Nestlé has announced a $1.78 billion commitment to support the transition to a regenerative food system over the coming five years.
The announcement comes in the wake of a recent report from the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that shows the climate crisis is intensifying.
Nestlé will work with its food system partners, including the company’s network of more than 500,000 farmers and 150,000 suppliers, to advance regenerative farming practices at the heart of the food system in an attempt to reach its target of halving its emissions by 2030 and achieving net zero by 2050.
“With our long-standing partnerships with farming communities globally, we want to increase our support for farming practices that are good for the environment and good for people,” said Mark Schneider, Nestlé CEO.
“In the spirit of enabling a just transition it is vital that we support farmers around the world that take on the risks and costs associated with the move towards regenerative agriculture.”
Amongst the new regenerative farming practices the company hopes to promote is the enhancement of biodiversity, soil conservation, regeneration of water cycles and integration of livestock.
The company will start working with 30 reference dairy farms in 12 countries to test scalable, climate-friendly and regenerative agricultural practices that help achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions. Nestlé is also working with farmers to select and cultivate nutritious and tasty pulse varieties to be used as milk alternatives.
Nestlé’s regeneration efforts are launching under the umbrella title of ‘Generation Regeneration’ focused on farmers, youth, consumers and its own employees.