Nestle is the latest corporation to announce sustainability plans. As the world’s largest food and beverage company, Nestle has an enormous supply chain, and with that comes enormous amounts of CO2 emissions. Nestle has calculated that approximately 95% of emissions that they are responsible for, come from their supply chain. Utilizing climate friendly business practices will ensure the sustained resiliency of Nestle as we transition to a clean energy economy. Nestle has laid out a full blueprint to reach net zero by 2050 which you can read here: Nestle Roadmap.
More specifically, they are working to achieve 100 percent renewable energy by 2025. In 2018, about 35% of the energy that Nestle used came from renewable sources. To reach 100% renewable energy by 2025, it will take some aggressive action, but it looks like Nestle is up for the challenge.
Putting their money where their mouth is, Nestle recently announced its investment into Taygete I, a 2,000-acre solar project owned and developed by 7X Energy in Pecos County, Texas. (Renewable Energy Magazine)
Image: 7x Energy
Nestle also has plans to develop solar for their bottling plant in Hollis, Maine. The Swiss food and beverage giant announced in September that it plans to construct a 10 MW solar installation to power operations at this bottling plant. It is encouraging to see Nestle publish their sustainability roadmap, but it is even more encouraging to see that they are actually acting upon it. (Renewables Now)
At Breiter Planet Properties, we help businesses like Nestle invest into renewable energy assets, and secure power purchase agreements to purchase electricity from our solar projects. Corporations like Nestle come to us with a target of switching over to 100% renewable energy and we put the strategy together, establish which projects would be a good fit for them, and discuss new development projects if appropriate.
Another step that Nestle is taking to reduce their contribution to climate change is reforestation as mentioned in this quote from their website: “Nestlé is also scaling up its reforestation program to plant 20 million trees every year for the next 10 years in the areas where it sources ingredients. More trees mean more shade for crops, more carbon removed from the atmosphere, higher yields and improved biodiversity and soil health.” (Nestle) Not only will Nestle be planting trees, they will also end their practices of deforestation. By 2022, Nestle’s primary supply chain will be 100% deforestation free.
Along with these forest initiatives, Nestle plans to keep soil and croplands healthy through the use of regenerative agriculture. Crop rotation, utilizing organic fertilizers and composting are some regenerative agriculture practices that promote and maintain soil health.
We celebrate Nestle’s action so far and look forward to their continued execution of their commitments. It does not come easy for a company to completely, radically shift the way in which they do business. Shareholders, customers, and investors are certainly pressing the company to make these shifts but regardless, it makes financial and business sense for them to take these actions. So crack open a Nesquik and say cheers to a monumental achievement for Nestle.
