Nespresso to invest £330m in sustainability programme

Nespresso, the coffee brand of Swiss multinational food and beverage company Nestlé, has announced its plans to invest CHF500 million (£330 million) towards a programme to become carbon neutral.

The Positive Cup programme will run over six years and would help to green the companies supply chain and reduce carbon emissions from its operations.

The investment would also go towards setting up a Sustainable Development Fund, to finance sustainability projects.

The company is aiming to have a particular focus on its coffee and aluminium sourcing, as well as improving social welfare and global resilience to climate change through its proposed support of adaptation and mitigation projects.

The programme could include measures such as sourcing 100 per cent of its coffee sustainably, strengthening cooperation with Rainforest Alliance and Fairtrade to improve farmer welfare, and also improving its commitment to recycling throughout the companies operations.

Nespresso has also pledged to reduce its carbon footprint by 10 per cent and become carbon neutral by 2020.

Jean-Marc Duvoisin, CEO of Nestlé Nespresso, made the announcement last week and said: “Today, we set our ambition of providing the highest quality and most sustainable portioned coffee worldwide. Our sustainability approach has always been designed to do more than simply minimise impacts. The development of even more innovative programs with our partners further demonstrates our commitment to creating shared value and generating positive impacts for all stakeholders across the entire value chain. This CHF500 million investment significantly builds on our current sustainability investment to ensure the long-term success of our business model.”