Sort by
Sort by

Nestlé wins national food and grocery industry award

Nestlé awarded for excellence in ethical responsibility

Last night (Tuesday Oct 9, 2013), Nestlé won a national IGD Award for its outstanding achievement in improving its ethical responsibility and the benefits this is delivering to wider society.

Through its Responsible Sourcing Programme, it has accelerated its work with its suppliers, workforce and NGOs to ensure traceability and identify any social or environmental risk in its supply chains. 

Through this work Nestlé has:

  • Sourced all its palm oil from certified sustainable sources three years ahead of target
  • Converted Kit Kat 2 Finger bars in the UK to Fairtrade - over a billion Kit Kat bars a year are certified Fairtrade, making it the biggest Fairtrade product in the UK apart from bananas
  • Worked with British dairy farmers to help them reduce greenhouse gas emissions and non-livestock water usage by more than five per cent in the first year.

This has led to it to be awarded the IGD Industry Award for Ethical Responsibility, sponsored by The Co-Operative.

Brett Whitfield Head of Procurement collected the award with Robin Sundaram Procurement Lead for Responsible sourcing, Nestlé UK & Ireland.  Brett said: "Nestlé has been working for many years to create shared value for society, our suppliers, employees and shareholders.  A fundamental element of this is our Responsible Sourcing strategy.  In 2012 we accelerated our work with suppliers, NGO's and 3rd party Auditors resulting in a significant increase in ethical audits of our supplier base.  In addition, we have created, and are implementing Responsible Sourcing Guidelines for 12 key commodity areas including Cocoa, coffee and Palm Oil.

Although there is still much to be done, we are delighted that the significant strides that we have taken and to be recognised by our industry peers for this prestigious accolade."

Kate Jones, head of Food Product at The Co-operative, the sponsors of the Award, said:

“This Award is more than risk management – that’s the day job. It’s about being truly bold and taking huge steps. 

“Nestlé won because they’ve taken on the challenges of reputational risk and responsibility. The judges were impressed with the scale, speed and depth of their response.

“They conducted a rigorous assessment of their supply chain and tackled issues head on. They’re setting an example that is moving the ethical cause forward and showing genuine industry leadership.”

The winners of the IGD Industry Awards were picked by some of the industry’s top personnel, including representatives from IGD, Diageo, Fairtrade Foundation, and Marks and Spencer.

The winners were announced at the Awards ceremony last night, hosted by television and radio presenter Gabby Logan.

IGD is a research and training charity that helps the food and consumer goods industry deliver a secure and sustainable future.