- Sustainability Strategy and Goals
- Progress vs. Target Tracker
- Key Sustainability Innovations and Technologies
- Measurable Impacts
- Challenges and Areas for Improvement
- Future Plans and Long-Term Goals
- Comparisons to Industry Competitors
- Global Food and Beverage Sustainability Metrics
- What to Watch: 12 to 18 Month Indicators
Nestlé is the world’s largest food and beverage company, generating CHF 91.4 billion in net sales in fiscal year 2024 across over 2,000 brands in 188 countries, spanning coffee, dairy, nutrition, pet care, confectionery, and packaged food. Its most current sustainability disclosure is the Non-Financial Statement 2024 (published February 2025), integrated into the 2024 Annual Report and prepared in alignment with GRI, SASB, TCFD, and for the first time partially with the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS). Nestlé’s sustainability framework is anchored in its Creating Shared Value (CSV) philosophy and a formally SBTi-approved 2050 Net Zero Roadmap.
The company reported a 20.38% net reduction in absolute GHG emissions in 2024 versus its 2018 baseline, meeting its 2025 target a full year ahead of schedule, in part through 1.6 million MTCO₂e of nature-based carbon removals. This headline figure earned Nestlé significant recognition but also drew scrutiny, as critics note that the 2030 goal requires an eightfold increase in carbon removals, and that 95% of total emissions, approximately 75 million MTCO₂e, remain locked in Scope 3 supply chains dominated by dairy, livestock, and tropical commodity agriculture.
Source
https://www.nestle.com/sites/default/files/2025-02/non-financial-statement-2024.pdf
https://www.nestle.com/sustainability
Sustainability Strategy and Goals
Nestlé’s sustainability strategy is structured around four pillars: climate and nature, packaging, water, and people. The 2050 Net Zero Roadmap, validated by the SBTi in 2021 and covering Scope 1, 2, and 3, targets a 50% absolute GHG reduction by 2030 versus a 2018 baseline of 91.74 million MTCO₂e, and a 90% reduction by 2050. Nestlé explicitly does not use voluntary market offsets to meet its SBTi targets; all reductions are achieved through operational changes and value chain removals.
Governance of sustainability is overseen by the Board of Directors’ Corporate Governance and Sustainability Committee, with five ESG-linked KPIs directly embedded into executive compensation: micronutrient fortification, GHG reduction, virgin plastic reduction, factory water use reduction, and women in management.
Net Zero and Carbon Emissions
Nestlé achieved a 20.38% net absolute GHG reduction versus its 2018 baseline by end of 2024, reaching approximately 72.85 million MTCO₂e gross, including 1.6 million MTCO₂e of nature-based removals from value chain projects. The 2030 target of 50% absolute reduction requires reaching approximately 45.87 million MTCO₂e, meaning Nestlé must reduce a further approximately 27 million MTCO₂e in the next six years from a current level where 95% of emissions are in complex Scope 3 supply chains.
- 2018 baseline total GHG (Scope 1, 2, and 3): 91.74 million MTCO₂e
- Net GHG reduction achieved by end of 2024: 20.38% vs. 2018 baseline; 2025 target met one year early
- Gross GHG reduction achieved by end of 2024 (excluding removals): 18.59% vs. 2018 baseline
- Nature-based carbon removals credited in 2024: 1.6 million MTCO₂e, contributing 1.79 percentage points to the net reduction figure
- Total GHG (FY2024): approximately 75 million MTCO₂e gross across Scope 1, 2, and 3
- Scope 3 share of total GHG (FY2024): 95%, approximately 71 million MTCO₂e
- Methane emissions from livestock supply chain (FY2024): 13 million MTCO₂e
- 2030 target: 50% absolute reduction vs. 2018 baseline; approximately 45.87 million MTCO₂e
- 2050 target: 90% absolute reduction vs. 2018 baseline; net zero via value chain removals for residual 10%
- Methane reduction achieved in 2023: more than 15.3% vs. 2018 baseline, the largest single-gas reduction achieved to date
- SBTi validation: approved in 2021; covers Scope 1, 2, and 3; includes Forest, Land and Agriculture (FLAG) sector targets
- Nestlé does not use voluntary market carbon offset credits to meet SBTi targets
- Renewable electricity (manufacturing sites, end of 2024): 95.3%, up from 91.9% in 2023; 100% target by 2025
- CDP climate leadership band: maintained in 2024
Water Stewardship
Nestlé’s water strategy covers factory water efficiency, watershed-level stewardship in water-stressed locations, agricultural supply chain water risk, and the human right to water and sanitation. All Nestlé Pure Life water manufacturing sites committed to AWS Standard certification by 2025. Factory water use per tonne of product manufactured declined by 20% from 2010 to 2024.
- Factory water use reduction: 20% per tonne of product manufactured since 2010
- Alliance for Water Stewardship (AWS): all Nestlé Waters sites committed to certification by 2025; 20+ sites certified globally
- Nestlé operates Priority Watershed programs in 40+ high-stress basins globally, covering most water-intensive sourcing and manufacturing geographies
- CEO Water Mandate signatory since 2010; formal support for the UN human right to water and sanitation
- Agricultural water risk: key programmes in dairy and coffee for supply chain water use efficiency; Nescafé Plan 2030 incorporates water conservation practices
- CDP water security score: B in 2024
- Sustainalytics ESG Risk score (2024): 22.7, rated medium risk; best result in five years
Regenerative Agriculture
Nestlé’s regenerative agriculture program is one of the most formally developed among global food companies, spanning commitments across coffee, dairy, cocoa, wheat, and soy. The headline achievement in 2025 was Nescafé’s regenerative sourcing program: 32% of Nescafé coffee was sourced from farmers implementing regenerative practices in 2024, surpassing the 2025 target of 20%, fifteen months ahead of schedule.
- Nescafé Plan 2030 regenerative agriculture sourcing (2024): 32% of coffee volume, surpassing 2025 target of 20%
- GHG emission reductions achieved by Nescafé Plan participants: 20% to 40% per kilogram of green coffee produced
- Nescafé 2030 target: 50% of all coffee sourced from farmers using regenerative practices by 2030
- Broader Nestlé target: 50% of key ingredients from farmers using regenerative agriculture practices by 2030; at 15% in 2024 per Planet Tracker
- Regenerative practices supported: optimized fertilization, soil cover crops, mulching, composting, agroforestry (shade-grown coffee), and native tree planting for biodiversity and carbon capture
- A TechnoServe study funded by Nescafé found that $500 to $600 million of annual investment in regenerative coffee could yield over $2 billion in farmer income annually and abate 3.5 million MTCO₂e
- Dairy methane: Nestlé participates in the Dairy Methane Action Alliance and is piloting feed additives projected to reduce methane emissions by 3.2 million MTCO₂e by 2030
Deforestation and Biodiversity
Nestlé’s deforestation program covers seven primary supply chains: meat, palm oil, pulp and paper, soy, sugar, cocoa, and coffee. At end of 2025, 96.7% of these primary supply chains were assessed as deforestation-free, against a target of 100% by 2025. The 3.3% gap reflects ongoing operational complexity in cocoa (first-mile traceability challenges in Côte d’Ivoire), cattle (Brazil), and indirect sourcing tiers.
- Deforestation-free primary supply chains (end of 2025): 96.7% across all seven commodity categories
- 2025 target: 100% deforestation-free primary supply chains; 96.7% achieved
- Palm oil (2024): 96.3% of volumes deforestation-free
- Cocoa: first-mile traceability adopted as the assessment approach in 2025, tracking beans from farm to first aggregation point, as per emerging industry practice
- A 2024 report by Impaakt linked one of Nestlé’s palm oil suppliers to deforestation in Peru, covering 13,000+ hectares of Amazon rainforest clearance
- Coffee deforestation risk: Planet Tracker (2024) identified coffee as the largest single contributor to Nestlé’s deforestation footprint, ahead of palm oil and cocoa
- CDP forest scores (2024): A- for palm oil; B for other forest commodities
Packaging and Circular Economy
Nestlé’s packaging program targets 100% recyclable or reusable packaging, a one-third reduction in virgin plastic versus the 2018 baseline, and above 95% of plastic packaging designed for recycling by 2025. As of end 2024, 87% of total packaging volume is reported as recyclable or reusable, against a target of 100%, leaving a 13-percentage-point gap with less than one year remaining at the point of disclosure.
- Total packaging recyclable or reusable (end 2024): 87%; 100% target by end 2025
- Plastic packaging volume (2024): approximately 873 kilotonnes
- Above 95% of plastic packaging designed for recycling target: 2025; in progress
- Virgin plastic reduction (vs. 2018 baseline): previously reported at 10.5% as of an earlier period; one-third reduction target by 2025; exact 2024 figure not separately restated in most current source
- Five-pillar packaging strategy (2024): reduction, recyclability through design, recycled content, systemic recycling infrastructure investment, and consumer/retailer behavior change
- UK Flexible Plastic Fund membership: Nestlé co-funds collection and sorting infrastructure for flexible plastic in the UK
- Nescafé Dolce Gusto: capsule redesign pathway targeting 2,500 tonnes of polypropylene savings
- Investment committed to transition to food-grade recycled plastics: up to $2 billion, announced via US Plastics Pact
Human Rights and Responsible Sourcing
Nestlé’s human rights framework is governed by its Child Labor Policy, Responsible Sourcing Standard, and Child Labor Monitoring and Remediation System (CLMRS) in cocoa, covering over 190,000 farming households in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana. Child labor in the West African cocoa supply chain remains Nestlé’s most cited and persistently unresolved human rights challenge. A US federal appeals court rejected a proposed class action in July 2025, brought by Malian citizens alleging forced child labor in Nestlé’s cocoa supply, on jurisdictional grounds, not on the merits of the claims.
- CLMRS coverage: over 190,000 farming households in cocoa supply chain in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana
- 1.56 million children working in cocoa production in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana in 2018 to 2019, with 94.8% engaged in hazardous work (third-party figure, not Nestlé-published)
- US federal appeals court dismissal (July 2025): class action by Malian citizens alleging Nestlé sourced cocoa using forced child labor; dismissed on jurisdictional grounds, not on the merits
- Nestlé scored 9th out of 30 global food and beverage manufacturers in the Access to Nutrition Initiative (ATNI) 2024 ranking
- Responsible Sourcing Standard covers 12 ingredient categories including dairy, coffee, cocoa, palm oil, meat, soy, vegetables, and seafood
- Sustainalytics 2024 ESG Risk: 22.7 (medium risk); best result in five years
- MSCI ESG Controversy response (2024): published formal responses to deforestation and packaging controversies
Nutrition and Health
Nestlé is the world’s largest food company by sales, and its nutrition sustainability commitments have grown in scrutiny alongside investor pressure. In 2024, the company ranked 9th out of 30 global food and beverage companies in the Access to Nutrition Initiative ranking. In May 2025, Nestlé committed to evolve its nutrition reporting, responding to ShareAction demands, including publishing front-of-pack labeling audit results and setting a specific target to increase sales of healthier products.
- ATNI ranking (2024): 9th out of 30 global food and beverage companies
- Health Star Rating reporting: published for first time in 2024 at country-level portfolio level
- Micronutrient fortification of affordable nutrition products: one of five KPIs embedded in executive compensation, alongside GHG reduction
- ShareAction demand (2025): investor coalition calling for Nestlé to increase sales of more nutritious products by 50% to CHF 25 to 30 billion by 2030
- Nestlé commitment to evolve nutrition reporting (May 2025): includes nutrient-of-concern reduction targets (sugar, sodium, saturated fat), marketing audit results, and front-of-pack labeling progress
- Nestlé Health Science reorganization (2026): VMS (vitamins, minerals, supplements) divestment of mainstream brands; portfolio refocus on premium, science-backed segments
Community and Social Impact
Nestlé’s community programs span farmer livelihood support through Nescafé Plan 2030, the Nestlé Cocoa Plan, and dairy partnership programs across 35+ countries, as well as water access initiatives. The company’s farmer training programs covered 590,000 farmers in 2024, delivering agricultural productivity, sustainability, and income resilience training.
- Farmer training programs (2024): 590,000 farmers trained across Nestlé’s agricultural supply chain partnerships
- Nescafé Plan 2030 economic impact: regenerative agriculture projected to yield over $2 billion in annual farmer income with $500 to $600 million in annual investment
- Nestlé Cocoa Plan: CLMRS operating across 190,000+ farming households; education, child labor monitoring, and income diversification programs
- Nestlé CSV (Creating Shared Value) framework: explicitly links business model to long-term community and farmer resilience, distinguishing Nestlé from peers who treat community programs as philanthropic rather than strategic
- Women in management: one of five executive compensation KPIs; progress disclosed annually; percentage of management positions held by women tracked against target
Governance and Transparency
Nestlé’s Non-Financial Statement 2024 represents its most comprehensive sustainability disclosure, partially prepared under ESRS for the first time in alignment with the CSRD. The company maintains CDP climate leadership band, CDP palm oil A-, CDP water B, Sustainalytics medium risk at 22.7, and MSCI ESG rating, with formal responses published to MSCI controversy flags. Executive compensation ties five ESG KPIs to variable pay, creating direct financial accountability.
- Non-Financial Statement 2024: partially ESRS-aligned; first year of CSRD-oriented preparation
- CDP scores (2024): climate leadership band; water B; palm oil A-; other forest commodities B
- Sustainalytics ESG Risk (2024): 22.7 medium risk; best in five years
- SBTi-approved near-term and net-zero targets: validated 2021; covers Scope 1, 2, and 3 including FLAG sector
- Five executive compensation ESG KPIs: micronutrient fortification, GHG reduction, virgin plastic reduction, factory water reduction, women in management
- No voluntary market carbon offsets used for SBTi target compliance
Technology and Innovation
Nestlé’s sustainability innovations span methane-reducing cattle feed additives, regenerative agriculture field support for 590,000 farmers, advanced packaging recyclability engineering, and water efficiency technology at 400+ manufacturing sites globally.
- Methane-reducing feed additive program: projected to reduce 3.2 million MTCO₂e by 2030; being piloted across dairy supply chain
- Simplified multilayer film development: new materials designed to maintain barrier and performance properties while enabling recyclability in mainstream streams
- High-performance paper structures: replacing conventional plastic packaging laminates, advancing recyclability in confectionery and ambient food categories
- Nescafé Plan 2030 technology transfer: precision fertilization, soil cover management, composting, agroforestry, and native tree planting delivered to farmers via field advisor networks
- Factory water monitoring: Nestlé operates real-time water use monitoring across 400+ manufacturing sites; data feeds AWS certification and internal efficiency programs
- Nature-based carbon removals: 1.6 million MTCO₂e removed in 2024 through supply chain nature projects including reforestation and agroforestry
Global Partnerships and Advocacy
Nestlé’s key external sustainability partnerships span climate and nature (SBTi, Dairy Methane Action Alliance, First Movers Coalition for low-carbon dairy), packaging (UK Flexible Plastic Fund, Ellen MacArthur Foundation), deforestation (Rainforest Alliance, Earthworm Foundation, Bonsucro), water (CEO Water Mandate, Alliance for Water Stewardship, WWF), nutrition (Access to Nutrition Initiative, ATNI), and farmer livelihood (TechnoServe, Rainforest Alliance, IDH).
- SBTi validation (2021): Nestlé was among the first major food companies to achieve FLAG-inclusive SBTi net zero approval
- Dairy Methane Action Alliance: Nestlé founding member; committed to public methane reduction reporting and adoption of feed additive pilot programs
- Rainforest Alliance: certification partner for coffee and cocoa supply chain programs; tied to deforestation-free verification
- CEO Water Mandate: signatory since 2010; formal human right to water and sanitation endorsement
- TechnoServe: co-funder of regenerative agriculture economic impact study; implementation partner for Nescafé Plan 2030
- UK Flexible Plastic Fund: recycling infrastructure co-funder alongside other FMCG brands
Source
https://www.nestle.com/sites/default/files/2025-02/non-financial-statement-2024.pdf
https://www.nestle.com/sustainability
https://trellis.net/article/nestle-is-on-track-to-halve-emissions-by-2030/
Progress vs. Target Tracker
Source
https://www.nestle.com/sites/default/files/2025-02/non-financial-statement-2024.pdf
https://trellis.net/article/nestle-is-on-track-to-halve-emissions-by-2030/
https://sdgnews.com/nestle-cuts-emissions-20-ahead-of-schedule-but-net-zero-path-faces-scrutiny/
Key Sustainability Innovations and Technologies
Nestlé’s most significant sustainability innovations span regenerative agriculture field programs at scale, methane reduction biotechnology, packaging engineering, and nature-based carbon removal.
Nescafé Plan 2030 Regenerative Agriculture Platform
Nescafé Plan 2030 is the most commercially advanced regenerative agriculture program in the global coffee sector. In 2024, it supported 32% of Nescafé coffee volumes sourced from farmers implementing regenerative practices, exceeding the 2025 target of 20% by a margin of 12 percentage points. The program delivers six core interventions at farm level: optimized fertilization, cover cropping, mulching, composting, agroforestry integration, and native tree planting. Participating farmers achieved GHG emission reductions of 20% to 40% per kilogram of green coffee while improving yield and soil health. The economic evidence is supported by a TechnoServe study showing a potential $2 billion annual return on a $500 to $600 million annual investment, with 3.5 million MTCO₂e of abatement.
Methane-Reducing Feed Additive Program
Methane emissions from dairy and livestock supply chains account for 13 million MTCO₂e of Nestlé’s 75 million MTCO₂e total footprint. Nestlé is piloting commercial cattle feed additives, including 3-nitrooxypropanol (3-NOP) and other enteric fermentation inhibitors, across its dairy supply chain in partnership with ingredient suppliers and the Dairy Methane Action Alliance. The program is projected to reduce 3.2 million MTCO₂e from methane by 2030, equivalent to 12% of current methane emissions. This is the single largest projected lever in Nestlé’s Scope 3 decarbonization plan for the second half of the decade.
Packaging Recyclability Engineering
Nestlé’s five-pillar packaging strategy includes material-level innovations to enable recyclability without sacrificing product performance. The company is advancing simplified multilayer films that maintain barrier properties while being sortable and recyclable in mainstream consumer infrastructure, and developing high-performance paper structures to replace plastic laminates in confectionery and ambient food packaging. These engineering changes address the hardest recyclability gap in food packaging, where product protection requirements have historically necessitated multi-material laminates that are unrecyclable at scale. The UK Flexible Plastic Fund partnership co-funds the collection infrastructure that makes these material changes commercially viable.
Nature-Based Carbon Removals in the Value Chain
Nestlé credited 1.6 million MTCO₂e of nature-based carbon removals in 2024 through agroforestry projects, reforestation, and native tree planting integrated directly into its agricultural supply chains. These removals are not market-purchased voluntary offset credits but are generated within Nestlé’s own supply chain communities, making them value chain removals aligned with the SBTi FLAG framework. The company plans to scale this removal volume eightfold by 2030 to meet the gap between gross emission reductions and the 50% net reduction target. This represents the most capital-intensive and execution-complex scaling challenge in the entire Nestlé sustainability program.
Source
https://www.nestle.com/media/news/nescafe-plan-2030-progress-report-2024-regenerative-agriculture
https://trellis.net/article/nestle-is-on-track-to-halve-emissions-by-2030/
https://sdgnews.com/nestle-cuts-emissions-20-ahead-of-schedule-but-net-zero-path-faces-scrutiny/
Measurable Impacts
Nestlé’s Non-Financial Statement 2024 and Nescafé Plan 2030 Progress Report 2024 provide the following multi-year data.
- Total GHG (FY2024): approximately 75 million MTCO₂e (Scope 1, 2, and 3); 2018 baseline: 91.74 million MTCO₂e
- Net GHG reduction vs. 2018 baseline (end of 2024): 20.38%
- Gross GHG reduction vs. 2018 baseline (end of 2024): 18.59%
- Nature-based carbon removals credited (2024): 1.6 million MTCO₂e
- Methane reduction achieved by 2023: more than 15.3% vs. 2018 baseline
- Methane emissions in supply chain (FY2024): 13 million MTCO₂e
- Scope 3 share of total GHG (FY2024): 95%, approximately 71 million MTCO₂e
- Renewable electricity at manufacturing (end 2024): 95.3%, up from 91.9% (2023)
- Deforestation-free primary supply chains (end of 2025): 96.7% across all seven commodity categories
- Palm oil deforestation-free (2024): 96.3% of volumes
- Nescafé regenerative agriculture sourcing (2024): 32%, up from target of 20%
- Key ingredients from regenerative agriculture (2024): 15%, against a 2030 target of 50%
- Farmers trained (2024): 590,000 across Nestlé agricultural supply chains
- Total packaging recyclable or reusable (end 2024): 87%; target 100% by 2025
- Factory water use per tonne of product: 20% reduction since 2010
- Sustainalytics ESG Risk (2024): 22.7 medium risk; best in five years
- ATNI ranking (2024): 9th out of 30 global food and beverage companies
- CDP climate: leadership band; CDP palm oil: A-; CDP water: B
Source
https://www.nestle.com/sites/default/files/2025-02/non-financial-statement-2024.pdf
https://www.nestle.com/media/news/nescafe-plan-2030-progress-report-2024-regenerative-agriculture
https://trellis.net/article/nestle-is-on-track-to-halve-emissions-by-2030/
Challenges and Areas for Improvement
Nestlé faces five material challenges that constrain its progress toward 2030 and 2050 targets.
Scope 3 Concentration in Livestock and Dairy
With 95% of emissions in Scope 3 and 13 million MTCO₂e from methane alone, Nestlé’s decarbonization trajectory is fundamentally a supply chain agriculture challenge, not an operational one. Achieving the 50% gross reduction by 2030 requires reducing Scope 3 by approximately 27 million MTCO₂e in six years, from supply chains where enteric fermentation, manure management, and land use emissions resist conventional purchasing or energy efficiency interventions. The Dairy Methane Action Alliance feed additive program accounts for only 3.2 million of the required 27 million MTCO₂e, leaving approximately 24 million MTCO₂e to be addressed through farm productivity improvements, ingredient substitution, regenerative sourcing, and value chain removals.
Carbon Removal Scaling Risk
Nestlé credited 1.6 million MTCO₂e of value chain removals in 2024 to achieve its net 20.38% reduction figure. Meeting the 50% net reduction target by 2030 requires scaling these removals approximately eightfold to over 12 million MTCO₂e per year. This requires expanding agroforestry, reforestation, and soil carbon projects across hundreds of thousands of supplier farms in geographies including Côte d’Ivoire, Brazil, Vietnam, and India, where farmer adoption, land tenure, infrastructure, and co-investment from public and private programs are all variable and unpredictable. Experts including PwC’s David Linich describe this scaling trajectory as one of the toughest challenges in food company decarbonization.
Deforestation-Free Target Missed
Nestlé set a publicly disclosed target of 100% deforestation-free primary supply chains across seven commodities by end of 2025. The outcome, 96.7%, means the target was missed by 3.3 percentage points. In the context of Nestlé’s over a decade of investment in traceability and supplier engagement, this gap reflects persistent structural barriers, particularly in cocoa first-mile sourcing in Côte d’Ivoire, Brazilian beef supply chains, and extended indirect supplier tiers in palm oil. A 2024 Impaakt report linked one Nestlé palm oil supplier to 13,000+ hectares of Amazon deforestation in Peru, directly challenging the 96.3% deforestation-free palm oil claim.
Packaging 100% Recyclability Gap
Nestlé committed to 100% recyclable or reusable packaging by end of 2025. Its disclosed figure of 87% at end of 2024 left a 13 percentage point gap with twelve months or fewer remaining. The remaining 13% covers primarily multi-material laminates in confectionery (Kitkat, Smarties, Maggi sachet formats), Maggi noodle and soup packaging, and flexible pouches, where recyclability is technically complex or infrastructure-dependent. Even with the simplified multilayer film and paper structure innovations in the pipeline, achieving 100% by end of 2025 appears unlikely, and confirmed achievement will require third-party verification.
Child Labor in Cocoa Supply Chain
Child labor in Nestlé’s West African cocoa supply chain is the most persistently unresolved human rights issue in the company’s supplier portfolio. The CLMRS covers 190,000+ farming households but the supply chain covers millions of smallholder farms. A July 2025 US federal appeals court ruling dismissed the class action on jurisdictional grounds but did not resolve the underlying allegations of forced child labor. External research finds that 94.8% of children on West African cocoa farms engaged in hazardous work in 2018 to 2019. Nestlé’s program has grown in coverage but operates at a fraction of the scale needed to address the systemic prevalence of child labor across its sourcing geographies.
Source
https://trellis.net/article/nestle-is-on-track-to-halve-emissions-by-2030/
https://sdgnews.com/nestle-cuts-emissions-20-ahead-of-schedule-but-net-zero-path-faces-scrutiny/
https://www.nestle.com/sustainability/nature-environment/forests/deforestation-supply-chains
Future Plans and Long-Term Goals
Nestlé’s forward roadmap through 2030 and 2050 centers on scaling regenerative agriculture, completing packaging recyclability, closing the deforestation gap, and completing the renewable electricity transition.
- Achieve 50% absolute GHG reduction vs. 2018 baseline by 2030 through a combination of supply chain interventions and approximately 12 million MTCO₂e per year of value chain removals
- Scale cattle feed additive methane reduction program to 3.2 million MTCO₂e reduction by 2030
- Source 50% of key ingredients from farmers using regenerative agriculture practices by 2030, up from 15% in 2024
- Source 50% of Nescafé coffee from farmers using regenerative practices by 2030, up from 32% in 2024
- Achieve 100% renewable electricity at all manufacturing sites by end of 2025, up from 95.3% at end of 2024
- Close the 13 percentage point packaging recyclability gap, targeting 100% of all packaging recyclable or reusable
- Publish nutrition reporting evolution, including nutrient-of-concern reduction targets and healthier product sales trajectory, as committed in May 2025
- Set a formal target for increasing sales of nutritious products in response to ShareAction investor engagement
- Net zero across Scope 1, 2, and 3 by 2050 at the latest, via 90% absolute reduction and value chain removals for residual 10%
Compared to Unilever, Nestlé’s SBTi-approved FLAG-inclusive targets are more formally structured than Unilever’s, which faced criticism in 2024 for abandoning three ESG targets and scaling back four others. Compared to Danone, Nestlé and Danone are broadly equivalent leaders on deforestation-free supply chain progress, both approaching but not fully reaching the 100% target. Against its peer group, Nestlé’s methane action program via the Dairy Methane Action Alliance and feed additives is the most quantified livestock methane intervention among major food companies.
Source
https://www.nestle.com/sites/default/files/2025-02/non-financial-statement-2024.pdf
https://trellis.net/article/nestle-is-on-track-to-halve-emissions-by-2030/
Comparisons to Industry Competitors
Nestlé is benchmarked here against Unilever (its closest global FMCG peer) and Danone (its closest food and beverage sustainability peer with published ESG data).
Global Food and Beverage Sustainability Metrics
| Metric | Nestlé | Unilever | Danone |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total GHG (Scope 1, 2, and 3) | ~75 million MTCO₂e (FY2024); 20.38% net reduction from 2018 baseline | ~56 million MTCO₂e (2022); abandoned three ESG targets in 2024 including halving virgin plastic by 2025 | ~22 million MTCO₂e (2023); down 40% vs. 2020 baseline on Scope 1 and 2 |
| Net zero / climate target | Net zero by 2050 (SBTi-approved with FLAG targets); 50% reduction by 2030 | 2039 net zero; SBTi-approved; scaled back several 2025 targets in 2024 | Net zero by 2050; SBTi-approved including FLAG targets |
| Scope 3 share | 95% of total GHG; dominated by dairy, livestock, and tropical commodities | ~70% from consumer product use phase | Approximately 93% from agricultural supply chains |
| Deforestation-free supply chains | 96.7% (end of 2025) across 7 commodities; target of 100% missed | Palm oil over 90% deforestation-free; broader supply chain commitments in progress | 97%+ deforestation-free; cocoa primary supply chain at 92% |
| Packaging recyclability | 87% recyclable or reusable (end 2024); 100% target by 2025 | 70% recyclable or reusable (2024); 2025 target reduced from 100% to 50% in new goals | 80%+ designed for recycling in primary packaging |
| Renewable electricity (manufacturing) | 95.3% (end 2024); 100% by 2025 | 100% renewable electricity achieved | 100% renewable electricity achieved in 2022 |
| Regenerative agriculture | 50% of key ingredients by 2030; Nescafé at 32% (surpassed 2025 target) | Regenerative agriculture sourcing for key agricultural ingredients; targets in progress | 55% of key ingredients sustainably sourced with regenerative components by 2030 |
| CDP climate | Leadership band | A list (2023) | B (2023) |
| SBTi approval | Yes, including FLAG sector targets (2021) | Yes | Yes, including FLAG sector targets |
| Child labor governance | CLMRS covers 190,000+ cocoa farming households; July 2025 lawsuit dismissed on jurisdictional grounds | Supply chain labor rights in progress | No equivalent child labor litigation |
Danone achieved 100% renewable electricity two years before Nestlé and has a smaller total emissions footprint, but its Scope 3 concentration in dairy mirrors Nestlé’s challenge. Unilever’s 2024 sustainability target retreat created a credibility vacuum that Nestlé, whose 2025 climate milestone was met a year early without target reduction, currently occupies. Nestlé’s lead on formally SBTi-approved FLAG-inclusive targets and CLMRS scale in cocoa is the most differentiated element of its sustainability governance versus both peers.
Source
https://www.nestle.com/sites/default/files/2025-02/non-financial-statement-2024.pdf
https://trellis.net/article/unilever-danone-nestle-ending-deforestation-ceres-report/
https://astra.grandviewresearch.com/sustainable-food-industry-esg-outlook
What to Watch: 12 to 18 Month Indicators
Three signals over the next 12 to 18 months will determine whether Nestlé’s 2030 trajectory holds or faces material credibility challenges.
2030 Emissions Trajectory Confirmation
Nestlé must reduce a further approximately 29.62 percentage points of absolute GHG emissions from its 2018 baseline by 2030, from a current gross reduction of 18.59%. This trajectory, combined with the need to scale carbon removals approximately eightfold, makes the annual rate of reduction required from 2025 to 2030 significantly steeper than what was achieved from 2018 to 2024. Nestlé’s 2025 Non-Financial Statement (expected February 2026) will be the first data point that tests this steeper trajectory. If the 2025 disclosure shows gross emission reductions accelerating toward the rate required (approximately 5 to 6 percentage points per year), the 2030 target remains credible. A further slow year would raise material questions about delivery.
Packaging 100% Recyclability Verification
Nestlé’s end of 2025 deadline for 100% recyclable or reusable packaging has arrived with the company at 87%. The 2025 Non-Financial Statement will confirm whether Nestlé closed the gap, missed the target, or revised its methodology. Given the technical complexity of the remaining 13%, a confirmed achievement would require either material substitution successes in multilayer laminates, reclassification of recyclability standards by country, or acceptance that some formats meet recyclability criteria under specific regional infrastructure conditions. This is also the single most publicly scrutinized packaging commitment in the global food sector and will attract third-party verification requests from NGOs and investor groups.
Nutrition Reporting Evolution and Sales Target
Nestlé committed in May 2025 to evolve its nutrition reporting including publishing a target for healthier product sales growth. The next 12 to 18 months will determine whether Nestlé formally adopts the ShareAction-requested target of a 50% increase in nutritious product sales by 2030, sets its own alternative target, or delays further. An ambitious, independently verifiable nutrition target with defined measurement criteria would address the ATNI ranking gap and respond to the investor coalition’s specific demands. Absence of a defined target by the January 2027 reporting period would trigger renewed investor activism given the commitments made in May 2025.
Source
https://trellis.net/article/nestle-is-on-track-to-halve-emissions-by-2030/
https://sdgnews.com/nestle-cuts-emissions-20-ahead-of-schedule-but-net-zero-path-faces-scrutiny/
https://accesstonutrition.org/news/nestle-commits-to-evolve-its-nutrition-reporting/
Nestlé’s sustainability record through FY2024 presents a genuinely strong operational performance alongside material structural risks that no incremental program can fully resolve at current pace. Meeting the 20% GHG reduction target a year early is a credible achievement, particularly given that it was accomplished with only 1.6 million MTCO₂e of value chain removals and a genuine 18.59% gross reduction through operational and supply chain changes. The Nescafé Plan 2030 regenerative agriculture program, already at 32% versus a 2025 target of 20%, is the strongest commercially scaled regenerative sourcing program in the global coffee sector. CDP climate leadership band and Sustainalytics 22.7 medium risk at a five-year best reflect genuine governance quality.
At the same time, Nestlé missed its deforestation-free target by 3.3 percentage points, is at 87% packaging recyclability against a 100% commitment, and faces a carbon removal scaling challenge of eightfold growth to meet the 2030 emissions target. Child labor in West African cocoa supply chains remains unresolved after more than a decade of investment in the Nestlé Cocoa Plan.
Three strategic takeaways for practitioners benchmarking or replicating this approach:
- FLAG-sector SBTi validation as the credibility floor for food companies: Nestlé’s SBTi approval including Forest, Land and Agriculture sector targets distinguishes it from food and beverage peers that hold general SBTi targets without FLAG coverage. Practitioners in food, agricultural commodities, and land-based industries should adopt FLAG-inclusive SBTi targets as the minimum credible standard for climate commitments, as general SBTi targets for food companies that exclude agricultural land-use emissions cover less than 30% of their actual footprint in most cases.
- Regenerative agriculture investment returns are quantifiable: The TechnoServe study on Nescafé Plan 2030 regenerative agriculture provides the most granular return-on-investment analysis available in the commercial regenerative agriculture space: $500 to $600 million annual investment yields $2 billion in farmer income and 3.5 million MTCO₂e of abatement annually. Practitioners building business cases for regenerative sourcing should reference this study as a peer-reviewed commercial template, and recognize that GHG abatement, farmer income, water conservation, and supply chain resilience are co-benefits of the same investment, making regenerative agriculture commercially defensible on multiple dimensions simultaneously.
- Scope 3 methane in livestock is the hardest remaining decarbonization problem in food: Nestlé’s 13 million MTCO₂e of methane emissions from dairy and livestock supply chains represents the hardest category of Scope 3 to reduce through purchasing decisions, energy procurement, or supplier codes. Feed additives, herd management, and manure capture are the only available levers, and all of them require direct farm-level intervention across millions of smallholder farms globally. Practitioners in dairy, meat, and livestock-adjacent supply chains should invest in methane monitoring and additive adoption programs now, given that the regulatory environment, specifically the Global Methane Pledge, EU Methane Regulation, and investor methane disclosures, is tightening faster than industry adoption of available solutions.
Source
https://www.nestle.com/sites/default/files/2025-02/non-financial-statement-2024.pdf
https://trellis.net/article/nestle-is-on-track-to-halve-emissions-by-2030/
https://sdgnews.com/nestle-cuts-emissions-20-ahead-of-schedule-but-net-zero-path-faces-scrutiny/
