Nestlé's flagship coffee brand will invest $1bn by 2030 to help coffee farmers transition to regenerative farming methods and adapt to the climate emergency
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A NESCAFÉ Dolce Gusto production line | Photo credit: Nestlé
NESCAFÉ has pledged $1bn to help coffee farmers around the world transition to regenerative agriculture practices by 2030.
The ambitious NESCAFÉ Plan 2030 will focus on the brand’s suppliers in Brazil, Vietnam, Mexico, Colombia, Côte d'Ivoire, Indonesia and Honduras, where 90% of the coffee it sources is grown.
It pledges to help coffee farmers plant carbon sequestering crops, increase the use of organic fertilisers, improve biodiversity and provide disease and climate change resistant coffee trees.
By 2025, the initiative, which aims to accelerate the existing NESCAFÉ Plan, is targeting that 100% of its coffee will be ‘responsibly sourced’ – up from 82% in 2021 – and that 20% is sourced from regenerative agricultural methods, rising to 50% by 2030.
To achieve this, NESCAFÉ is piloting a financial support scheme for coffee farmers in Mexico, Côte d'Ivoire and Indonesia that proposes to provide financial incentives for adopting regenerative agriculture practices, income protection using weather insurance and greater access to credit lines.
According to a press release, it will then track the progress and assess the results of its field programmes with coffee farmers through its Monitoring and Evaluation partnership with the
Rainforest Alliance.
“Climate change is putting coffee-growing areas under pressure," said David Rennie, Head of Nestlé Coffee Brands. “Building on 10 years' experience of the NESCAFÉ Plan, we're accelerating our work to help tackle climate change and address social and economic challenges in the NESCAFÉ value chains.”
“We want coffee farmers to thrive as much as we want coffee to have a positive impact on the environment. Our actions can help drive change throughout the coffee industry,” added Philipp Navratil, Head of Nestlé's Coffee Strategic Business Unit.
Nestlé says regenerative agriculture, which can contribute to drawing carbon from the atmosphere, is a key part of its ‘Zero Net’ commitment, which aims to half greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 and reach zero net greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
The Swiss food and beverage giant says it has already made inroads to meeting its goal, achieving a 46% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions at its soluble coffee factories in 2020 versus 2010 levels per tonne of product.
Coffee products netted Nestlé $25bn in 2021 – more than a quarter of its total annual sales.