"We care about the communities where our coffee grows as much as we do about creating memorable experiences for our customers."
a sustainable future
Our commitment
A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE
At Nespresso, sustainability is built into everything we do. That is not only because we care about the people and the planet, but because our future depends on being responsible now and in the years to come.
So, we focus on creating shared value for our customers, the farmers we work with, and for society as a whole. It is only by delivering long-term positive impact for everybody that we can be sure we’ll be able to continue supplying our exceptional quality coffee in the future.
Our sustainability strategy, called The Positive Cup, seeks to improve the quality of our products and services while minimising our impact across our entire value chain – from sourcing to supply, from operations to delivery. As part of The Positive Cup sustainability strategy, we are committed to invest CHF500 mio. from 2014-2020 in sustainability initiatives.
In 2014, we launched the Nespresso Sustainability Innovation Fund (NSIF), a funding vehicle that facilitates our investment in innovative sustainability initiatives that go beyond our usual business operations, with a commitment of $10 million (2016-2018). We seek to complement each project’s funding with institutional donor resources or, if appropriate, impact investment capital, while ensuring tangible economic, social and environmental return on investment together with a range of experts from academia, NGOs, international development agencies and impact investors.
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COFFEE SOURCING
THE NESPRESSO AAA SUSTAINABLE QUALITY™ PROGRAM
We developed the AAA Sustainable Quality™ Program in 2003 with the internationally recognised NGO The Rainforest Alliance to create a sustainable supply of the highest quality coffee, while protecting the environment and improving the lives of the coffee farmers we work with and their communities.
The goal is to help them improve their farming practices, increase their productivity and manage their farms – and their futures – in a more sustainable way. More than 93% of our coffee is sourced sustainably through the AAA Sustainable Quality™ Program.
RESOURCES
WATER STEWARDSHIP
Water is crucial to a sustainable coffee supply, so we work hard to manage it well across our entire value chain.
In Colombia, we’ve been working with the Colombian Coffee Growers Federation (FNC) to set up water treatment plants and have co-financed the installation of a central mill.
In our Swiss factories, production processes have been optimized to ensure water is recovered and reused whenever possible. The water from nearby rivers is also used to generate electricity for cooling.
NATURAL CLIMATE SOLUTIONS
TREE-PLANTING
Trees are critical to coffee-growing. They help soils to regenerate and conserve water, while tree canopies protect crops against extreme weather conditions.
Agroforestry – planting trees around or among crops – can boost biodiversity, reduce soil erosion and help farmers adapt to the effects of climate change while diversifying their income. That’s why, together with our partners Pur Projet and Ecocert, we’re helping farmers transition to agroforestry models. Since 2014, we’ve planted over 4.5 million trees in Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Indonesia, Kenya, Nicaragua and Uganda.
CIRCULARITY
CLOSING THE LOOP
We invest in dedicated recycling programs to enable consumers everywhere to recycle their Nespresso capsules.
We created our first recycling scheme in 1991 in Switzerland. With a global recycling rate of 32% through collective recycling schemes and Nespresso dedicated recycling centers, we currently have capsule recycling solutions in 53 countries, enabling 91% of our consumers to recycle.
Today, you can bring your capsules back to a Nespresso boutique, take them to one of more than 100,000 collection points in 31 countries, mail them to us, or have them collected from your doorstep with Recycling@Home.
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In addition, in 2018, we announced the opening our recycling scheme to other portioned coffee manufacturers, offering a global solution for the whole category to improve accessibility and convenience of aluminium capsule recycling. Aluminium is infinitely recyclable and the aluminium from recycled Nespresso capsules has many and varied uses; from car engines to computers to cans, and even new coffee capsules.
We work with local authorities to ensure our capsules can be collected and, in some countries, we have access to the public recycling infrastructure when it can process small light items such as coffee capsules.
We’re also proud co-founders of the Aluminium Stewardship Initiative (ASI), which launched the first-ever global standard for sustainable aluminium. Our commitment is to source responsibly produced aluminium for all of our capsules and to create a closed-loop and circular system.
We’re not only interested in recycling our capsules. We’ve also implemented initiatives to recycle used Nespresso machines, which are 95% recyclable, as well as transforming spent coffee grounds into biogas and nutrient-rich fertiliser.
"We are working to shape a waste-free future and drive behaviour change towards a circular economy."
COFFEE AS A FORCE FOR GOOD
THE REVIVING ORIGINS PROGRAM
We launched our Reviving Origins program to restore coffee farming and local coffee economies in regions affected by adversities such as conflict, economic hardship and environmental disasters.
The program provides support to rebuild sustainable livelihoods for farmers and their communities while preserving the future of some of the world’s rarest, most exquisite coffees. We are investing CHF 10 million over a period of five years (2019-2023).
Our Reviving Origins program currently supports ongoing farming and community projects in Colombia, Zimbabwe, Uganda, Puerto Rico and Cuba. It is part of Nespresso’s overall commitment to invest CHF 500 million from 2014-2020 in its sustainability program, The Positive Cup.
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Through our Reviving Origins program, we are bringing back forgotten coffees, boosting economic development and sharing a new taste experience with consumers.
TARGETS
Our 2020 Sustainability Goals
Company
Invest CHF 500 million in The Positive Cup between 2014 and 2020
Empower everyone in our company to contribute to our sustainability agenda
Catalyse innovation through the Nespresso Sustainability Innovation Fund
COFFEE
Source 100% of our permanent coffees through our AAA Sustainable Quality™ Program
Increase the share of certified coffees in AAA
Expand our value proposition to rare origins
Pursue innovative solutions to better livelihoods for farmers.
ALUMINIUM
Offer convenient recycling solutions to all our consumers
Continue to increase capsule recycling rate
Unlock the circular use of aluminium
Source «ASI certified» aluminium towards 100%
Climate
Reduce the carbon footprint of a cup of Nespresso by 28%, compared to 2009
Inset 100% of our operational carbon footprint (Scopes 1 and 2) ensuring greenhouse gas emissions are equivalent to the global volume of capsules sold
Strengthen coffee landscape resilience through extensive tree-planting towards 5 million
