Nestle’s race to scale sustainable coffee

Nestlé Nescafé sustainability strategy – overview

• Nescafé sourced 53% of green coffee from regenerative agriculture practices in 2025
• Green coffee emissions fell 18.3% versus 2018 baseline, highlighting decarbonisation progress
• Farm support included 1,600 agronomists training growers across 15 producing countries
• Nestlé distributed 20.3 million plantlets, boosting resilience, yields and climate adaptation
• 98.6% renewable electricity but scope 3 agricultural emissions remain dominant challenge

It’s nearly four years since Nestlé launched Nescafé Plan 2030 – an ambitious strategy to make global coffee supply chains more sustainable by the end of the decade.

“As the world’s leading coffee brand, Nescafé aims to have a real impact on coffee farming globally,” said Philipp Navratil, who was head of Nestlé’s Coffee Strategic Business Unit at the time. “We want coffee farmers to thrive as much as we want coffee to have a positive impact on the environment. Our actions can help drive change throughout the coffee industry.”

So how is the world’s biggest CPG delivering on those ambitions and is its flagship sustainability programme translating into meaningful progress for coffee farmers and the environment?

Nescafé Plan 2030

According to the Nescafé Plan 2030 Progress Report, published this month, Nestlé’s biggest coffee brand sourced 53% of its green coffee (raw, unroasted coffee beans) from farmers adopting regenerative agriculture practices in 2025.

While this marks a significant milestone, it also raises questions around pace – with 2030 targets looming, the key challenge will be accelerating adoption across the remaining share of its supply chain.

The company also reported an 18.3% reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from its green coffee compared with its 2018 baseline.

Put into context, green coffee represents the largest share of the coffee giant’s total footprint, meaning progress here is critical.

Implementing change

In 2025, more than 1,600 Nescafé agronomists and field staff supported farmers in 15 countries, through training and technical support on regenerative agriculture.

Nescafé also shifted its procurement strategy to prioritise coffee farmers following these practices.

The Nescafé Plan 2030, says Nestlé, aims to enhance coffee supply resilience, benefiting farmers and farmland ecosystems. Practices such as agroforestry, cover crops and optimised fertilisation are being used to improve soil health and support long-term yields.

Intercropping – growing two or more different crop species together to maximise land efficiency, improve soil health and create natural pest control – is also creating new revenue streams for farmers.

“With more than half of our green coffee sourced from farmers adopting regenerative agriculture practices in 2025, Nescafé has reached a major milestone,” says Antje Shaw, head of sustainability for Nescafé. “This shows how we are working with farmers to scale regenerative agriculture across our coffee supply chain. We aim to support farmers in this transition, strengthen resilience to climate change and help secure Nestlé’s long-term access to coffee, a key growth driver for the company.”

Nestlé’s also working with farmers to introduce coffee varieties better suited to rising temperatures and more resistant to pests and diseases.

For farmers, however, renovation comes with upfront costs and delayed returns, meaning continued financial and technical support will be critical to ensure widespread uptake.

Finally, 94.3% of Nescafé coffee was responsibly sourced last year, meaning green coffee lots were traceable to identified groups of farmers and independently certified or verified as being produced in alignment with Nestlé’s responsible sourcing requirements.

This reflects wider industry efforts to improve traceability, as brands face increasing regulatory and consumer pressure to demonstrate deforestation-free and ethical sourcing.

Manufacturing, distribution and packaging

Beyond farming, Nescafé is also working to curb the environmental footprint of its operations across coffee manufacturing, distribution and packaging – the three main sources of its carbon emissions. This includes efforts to improve energy efficiency, transition to cleaner energy sources and optimise logistics to reduce emissions across its value chain.

In 2025, 98.6% of the electricity used across Nescafé coffee manufacturing sites was sourced from renewable energy, marking a significant step towards decarbonisation and contributing to overall reductions in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

The company’s also exploring lower-impact packaging solutions and more efficient distribution networks to further drive down its environmental impact, aligning its operations with broader climate targets while responding to growing consumer and regulatory pressure for more sustainable products.

However, details on packaging reductions or shifts away from virgin plastic remain limited, an area where stakeholders are increasingly expecting clearer targets and measurable progress.

The world’s biggest coffee brand has also developed the Nescafé Plan Child Protection Framework, in collaboration with strategic partner, Terre des Hommes, strengthening child protection systems in coffee supply chains.

“We believe in supporting systems that protect children today and help secure better opportunities for the future,” says Roy Tjan, child rights and business global advisor at Terre des Hommes. “Our partnership with Nescafé reinforces this belief by integrating the company’s child protection efforts on the ground with the community and public State systems already in place.”

As Nescafé enters the second half of its 2030 plan, the real test is whether it can scale fast enough to deliver measurable environmental gains while boosting farmer livelihoods.

We’ll be keeping a close eye on its progress.