Acting on climate change

Climate change is already having a global impact. Food and agriculture is one of the sectors most impacted by climate change. It’s also the sector that has the biggest impact on fuelling climate change.

An unstable climate is a major threat to agricultural production. It affects our ability to source the natural ingredients we need. Our supply chain includes many businesses in areas of the world that are most exposed to climate change. For these reasons, we see climate change as a direct threat to the sustainability of our business.

To continue to provide food for the world we have to limit greenhouse gas emissions and build resilient farming systems. But we can’t do it alone. To safeguard the climate and environment for future generations we need a concerted effort from business, consumers and governments.

What are we doing to change things?

We’re determined to halve our emissions by 2030 and reach net zero emissions across the whole of our operations by 2050. This will need radical action across our whole value chain:

Working with our suppliers and farmers to future-proof our food system
Switching to renewable energy in our factories and offices
Looking for new innovative packaging for our products.

In fact, the majority of our impact, our carbon footprint, comes from agriculture – the ways we grow and produce the ingredients that make up our products. This is why we’re focusing on working with our global supply chain to champion more regenerative agricultural practices.

Globally, we’re investing over £2.5 billion to accelerate our work in manufacturing, packaging and carbon-neutral brands. Of this money, nearly £1 billion will support the transition to more regenerative agriculture across our supply chain.

Our 2050 net zero roadmap

Our net zero roadmap

2018–2021: Our path to regeneration for future generations

Solving the problem means identifying the problem. We found Nestlé emitted 92 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions in 2018^*. Now we know the extent, we know the road ahead.

Companies and their emissions grow over time. That’s why we’re promising to be net zero based on our 2018 baseline, no matter how much our company grows.

Nestlé’s in-scope GHG emissions by operation million tonnes of CO₂e, in 2018

Scope 3
Sourcing our ingredients	65.6	71.4%
Scope 1, 2 & 3
Manufacturing our products	7.0	7.7%
Scope 3
Packaging our products	11.0	11.9%
Scope 3
Managing logistics	7.5	8.2%
Scope 3
Travel and employee commuting	0.8	0.8%
Figures have been rounded.

*Total GHG emissions were 113 million tonnes (CO₂ equivalent) in 2018, 92 of which are in scope of our UN 1.5°C pledge.

2021–2025: Moving faster

By 2025, we will reduce our emissions by 20%

We’re excited to hit the soil running. We’re accelerating our work in manufacturing, packaging and carbon-neutral brands. We’re also investing CHF 1.2 billion to help spark regenerative agriculture across our supply chain, as part of a total investment of CHF 3.2 billion by 2025.