Dubai, United Arab Emirates – Nespresso is set to reinforce its sustainability efforts at the Food for Future Summit, taking place this week at the Expo 2020 site from 23-24 February 2022 in Dubai, UAE.
With a strong awareness of its responsibility to protect the future of coffee and the communities that depend on it, Nespresso has kept sustainability at the heart of everything it does for more than 30 years.
At The Food For Future Summit event, Nespresso will demonstrate its sustainability efforts, including the Nespresso AAA Sustainable Quality Program – a coffee sourcing program designed to ensure the continued supply of high-quality coffee, while improving the livelihoods of farmers and their communities, and protecting the environment.
“Sustainability is deeply ingrained in Nespresso’s DNA,” said FranciscoNogueira, Business Executive Officer, Nespresso Middle East and Africa. “Coffee can be a force for good and we are proud of our achievements in scaling sustainable coffee farming through the Nespresso AAA Sustainability program.
“We are focused on boosting a circular economy by increasing the use recycled materials and committed to having a positive impact in the future of our planet and on the lives of our communities with an aim to be carbon neutral during 2022.”
On a journey to achieve net zero carbon emissions, Nespresso has made a commitment that every Nespresso cup of coffee will be certified fully carbon neutral by the Carbon Trust by the end of 20221. Building a low carbon Nespresso value chain is a priority for the brand and it will continue to invest in the following six levers:
- Regenerative Coffee production: Accelerate the work that Nespresso does with farmers, encouraging and enabling the adoption of regenerative farming practices such as agroforestry, organic fertilization, and soil cover.
- Ecodesign: Focus on circularity and innovation, increasing the use of recycled and recyclable materials in the design of capsules, accessories and machines and promoting refurbished machines.
- Renewable energy: Continue to increase energy efficiency and move towards 100% renewable electricity across all Nespresso sites and boutiques
- Recycling: Work with Nespresso customers and consumers to continue to drive up recycling rates for Nespresso capsules, investing in initiatives that make recycling easier and simpler and used coffee grounds a source of energy.
- Logistics optimization: Continue to work closely with Nespresso supply chain partners to introduce solutions and innovations that reduce carbon emissions throughout brand operations, transport and delivery of Nespresso materials, goods and products.
- Tree planting and reforestation: Scale Nespresso’s track record of five million tree planting within and around the coffee farms to further expand carbon sinks in and around the regions where Nespresso sources coffee.
Fully unlocking the potential of these actions will take time, which is why Nespresso committed to first become carbon neutral by 2022 certified by Carbon Trust. This is a critical milestone to better understand the size of the challenge, finance forest protection and restoration initiatives while engaging consumers on the necessity to act.
Progress in sustainable coffee sourcing
- Results from the Positive Cup revealed more than 93% of Nespresso coffee is now sourced sustainably through its AAA Sustainable Quality™ Program, up from 84% in 2014, including 48% certified coffee, up by 9 points since 2014.
- Building stronger, more resilient farming communities has always been at the heart of Nespresso’s activities. The brand continues to drive innovative projects to help protect coffee farmer welfare such as pioneering innovative retirement savings and crop insurance schemes. Today, over 2,000 coffee farmers in Colombia and 1,500 farmers in Indonesia have a pension saving scheme in place. Over 4,700 coffee farmers in Colombia are enrolled in crop insurance, representing over 15,000 hectares now insured.
Visionary approach towards recycling and aluminium
- Nespresso reached a global recycling rate of 32% at the end of 2020, up by 17% since 2014. More than 90% of its consumers worldwide have access to a convenient used capsule recycling solution.
- Nespresso’s recycling efforts cover 59 countries, with dedicated recycling systems in 54 countries. The brand also shares its infrastructure with other capsule manufacturers in five countries. In 38 countries, Nespresso offers a ‘Recycling at Home’ option which allows consumers to have their used capsules collected from their place of residence.
- Nespresso paved the way to create the first ever sustainable virgin aluminium standard, as a founding member of the Aluminium Stewardship Initiative (ASI). ASI set the first ever global standards for sustainably, responsibly produced aluminium.
Significant impact reductions on climate
- The brand has reduced the carbon footprint of a Nespresso cup of coffee by 24%, compared to its 2009 baseline, through investment in the expansion of renewable energy use, introducing eco-design into the products, sourcing low carbon materials and optimizing logistics.
- These advancements come alongside an over CAD $20 million investment in natural climate solutions since 2014. Working with many partners including Pur Projet, Nespresso planted 5.2 million trees by end of 2020.
UAE Initiatives
Nespresso plays a key role in reducing residual materials across the country by implementing innovative recycling solutions. In partnership with recycling Be’eah Group, Nespresso encourages consumers to drop-off their used aluminum capsules to a Nespresso Boutique. Aluminum is recovered and the coffee grounds are used as high-quality compost, creating closing the loop activities.