On June 2nd, Owen Bethell, Environmental Impact Lead, Global Public Affairs and ESG Engagement at Nestlé, joined the Stockholm+50 Climate Hub to talk about Nestlés work promoting regenerative agriculture in an effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve conditions for farmers and their communities.
As one of the largest global food companies, Nestlé recognizes the need to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This is a huge challenge - in 2018 Nestlé’s emissions were twice that of Switzerland, the company’s home country, said Owen Bethell in his keynote. A lot needs to be done, and most of it is out of Nestlé’s direct control.
Owen Bethell, Environmental Impact Lead, Global Public Affairs and ESG Engagement at Nestlé, spoke at the Stockholm+50 Climate Hub on June 2nd. Photo by We Don't Have Time
Around 95% of Nestlé’s carbon footprint consists of Scope 3 emissions - emissions from supply chains but not directly emitted by the company. These include emissions from suppliers of food ingredients and other materials like packaging and logistics.
Two-thirds of Nestlé’s Scope 3 emissions come from ingredients and the agricultural practices used to produce them. In order to meaningfully reduce this carbon footprint, Nestlé is supporting farmers in adopting less carbon-intensive practices. The company is banking on regenerative agriculture to do so, which delivers other positive effects like improving resilience and securing incomes for the farmers and communities. But it’s not always easy to make the switch.
“When you implement regenerative agriculture through a project, there may be a series of interventions required to help farmers. They may see a decline in their yield initially, and so they require support in the form of financial guarantees, risk management and expertise from agronomists.” says Owen Bethell, explaining that Nestlé is implementing a global program to help farmers in the transition to regenerative agriculture.
Owen Bethell joined a panel on the role of regenerative agriculture with Cecilia McAleavery, Oatly, Arturo Tovar, Rainforest Alliance and Nick Nuttall, We Don’t Have Time. Photo by We Don’t Have Time.
Nestlé’s global program on regenerative agriculture involves hundreds of projects that support farmers across the world in adopting regenerative agriculture, through financial support, advice from agronomists, and customized guidance for reaching the best results in their environment. Through this program, Nestlé aims to have around 20% of its key ingredients come from regenerative agriculture by 2025, and around 50% by 2030. If it reaches this goal, it would mean around 14 million tonnes of ingredients being shifted to regenerative agriculture - a significant change in production. This is not an ambition to be taken lightly, it will require hard work, dedication and some trial and error to reach it.
Nestlé’s actions on their own will not change the food system. That’s why the company engages in significant advocacy efforts to help build a movement across the industry and with farmers to embrace regenerative agriculture more widely. This shift also relies on support from policy makers - ensuring financial incentives for farmers reward regenerative rather than degenerative practices.
If you want to learn more about our work, listen to Owen’s keynote and panel discussion from the Stockholm+50 Climate Hub:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbXYEBzplqo&t=7121s
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93 w
Nestlé has a long way to go before I fully believe anything they say, but supporting regenerative agriculture is always a good direction. -E.
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94 w
Nestlé ? The same company that exploit poor people in the poor countries?
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95 w
Keep up the good program of supporting farmers. Farmers are backbone to a lot
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95 w
This is truly encouraging! Wish you good luck in your important endeavors
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95 w
If this truly happens it has the potential to have a huge impact, I am rooting for you Owen and Nestlé!
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95 w
Good work, it is good to see that Nestlé is walking in the right y. direction.