Reducing our greenhouse gas emissions

Every cup of NESCAFÉ may help give you the power and energy you need every day. Similarly, NESCAFÉ uses spent coffee grounds to create real energy in most of our factories, reducing tons of waste and greenhouse gas emissions. It’s a simple process where the ground coffee used to brew NESCAFÉ is repurposed as biofuel to power our steam boilers. In 2021, this circularity helped NESCAFÉ keep 61,000 tons* of CO2e from fossil fuels from entering our atmosphere and sends less waste to landfill that would otherwise be transported by heavy trucks. Like you, NESCAFÉ cares about the planet and isn’t too proud to reheat our leftovers. (*Scope: Soluble coffee factories in Europe in 2021)

One of the best vehicules to reduce carbon is healthy soil and forests. For NESCAFÉ, to tackle their vast supply chain with hundreds of thousands of farms and transportation networks, we aim to protect both soil and forests to bring long-term sustainable change.

The world’s forests absorb approximately 2.6 billion tons of carbon dioxide a year, or about a third of all the CO2 released from burning fossil fuels. Forests also provide nutrition, shelter, energy, medicine, and livelihoods to around 1.6 billion people. Unfortunately, as global populations and demand for food grows, forests are at risk of being converted into farmland. NESCAFÉ in Europe is 100% deforestation-free coffee and by 2026 NESCAFÉ intends to plant 20 million native trees worldwide to help increase biodiversity, and to promote soil formation and soil health. It’s a big job but not nearly as big as what forests do for the planet.

Good soil does more than grow good coffee, it captures carbon, reduces erosion, and requires less synthetic fertilizer. As a large part of greenhouse gas emission on farms comes from fertilizers, NESCAFÉ is helping optimize fertilizer use by providing training to farmers. From Vietnam to Mexico, Brazil and Indonesia, NESCAFÉ's field programs have helped to improve farming methods, resulting in farms using the optimum combinations of synthetic and organic fertilizers, and reducing the use of agrichemicals. Simply put, healthy soil helps to grow a more sustainable coffee.

To help Nestlé reach net zero by 2050, it’s not about making a few big changes, it’s about making hundreds of small ones. To start, all NESCAFÉ factories aim to use 100% renewable electricity by 2025. We are also doing our best in helping create circular systems that make it easier to collect, recycle and reuse these products. NESCAFÉ aims to grow its fleet of electric, biofuel, hybrid, or plug-in hybrid vehicles. And for consumers, NESCAFÉ encourages better preparation methods and recycling tips like boiling water at 80°C instead of 100°C. Initiative after initiative, we are on a path to keep reducing our greenhouse gas emissions.