Our road to net zero
Climate change is one of society’s greatest challenges. It is also one of the greatest risks to the future of our business. Solving it requires all of us to act with urgency.
Climate change is affecting water availability and accelerating biodiversity loss, with many communities already suffering. Solutions to the climate crisis must factor in human rights and benefit everyone by creating a more equitable, low-carbon economy.
Only 5% of our total greenhouse gases (GHGs) come from our own operations. In contrast, 95% come from our value chain, from activities like farming or shipping. That's why we're working with partners throughout our supply chain and transforming our manufacturing and packaging activities to help achieve absolute reductions in GHG emissions.
As a result of scaling up GHG reduction projects in our operations and supply chain, we have put peak carbon behind us, reducing absolute GHG emissions year-on-year even as our company continues to grow.
Net zero by 2050
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Net zero
What we are doing to reduce emissions
Carbon reductions, removals and neutrality
To achieve net zero emissions, we need to reduce emissions throughout our business and supply chains. Our progress towards sourcing 50% of our key ingredients through regenerative agriculture methods by 2030 will contribute significantly to our emissions reductions, as will investing in sustainable logistics, packaging and manufacturing activities.
Our Net Zero Roadmap also includes carbon removals. As a company with a large land ‘footprint’, natural climate solutions will form a significant part of our decarbonization pathway, removing carbon from the atmosphere from within our supply chain.
These removals projects take place in the landscapes where we source our raw materials, and help restore forests, wetlands and peatlands. Our projects can also help generate additional benefits for communities and protect natural ecosystems.
We have already begun this process, initiating projects that will sequester millions of tonnes of CO2e over their lifetimes through our Global Reforestation Program.
Our corporate net zero program does not use carbon offsetting outside our value chain. However, in some circumstances, our brands can purchase credits to compensate for additional emissions relating to their life cycle. In those instances, brands may purchase high-quality carbon credits that help fund natural climate solutions and other activities outside of Nestlé's value chain – including tree planting, forest protection and, in some cases, social programs for rural communities. These are not a substitution for or a distraction from our corporate plan and brands are also required to reduce emissions in line with our corporate objectives.
Climate change is now a lived experience, not a future projection. For a company as dependent on agriculture as Nestlé, this matters – greatly – and is why we are so determined to play our part by reaching net zero no later than 2050.
