Nestlé is committed to reaching net zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2050. Nestlé's path to net zero is grounded in our dependence on nature and farmers. By integrating climate, nature, and people in our actions, we are working to help building resilient sourcing systems that we expect can secure supply, reduce risk, strengthen natural capital, and create long-term value for farmers, consumers, and our business. We work with farmers in our supply chain through dedicated projects designed to tackle agriculture GHG emissions and to scale up regenerative agriculture. Farmers are at the center of our approach, and we co-invest with them in farm projects, reward specific practices, and provide technical support to facilitate a just transition. To get there, we are also transforming our operations and logistics, switching to renewable electricity and working with farmers in our supply chain scaling up regenerative agriculture.
Key terms explained
Net zero
In 2019, we announced our ambition to reach net zero GHG emissions by 2050 at the latest. In 2026, we updated our timebound plan, the Nestlé Roots of Net Zero (pdf, 16Mb), which underpins our Group's climate and nature strategy and acts as our transition plan aligned with a 1.5°C pathway as validated by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi). We will balance any remaining emissions through high-quality nature-based solutions. Read more about net zero.
Regenerative agriculture
In line with the Sustainable Agriculture Initiative Platform, Nestle defines regenerative agriculture as an approach to farming, which aims to conserve and restore natural resources, primarily soil, as well as water and biodiversity, while capturing carbon in soils and plant biomass, and to support farmers' livelihoods. Examples of regenerative agriculture practices include reduced tillage and agroforestry. More information is available in our Nestle Agriculture Framework (pdf, 19Mb). Read more about regenerative agriculture.
Just transition
Just transition refers to a framework aimed at making the shift towards regenerative food systems at scale as fair and inclusive as possible, creating decent work opportunities and minimizing negative impacts on farmers, workers, and communities. It encompasses a range of actions aimed at mitigating the negative social and economic impact of climate and agriculture action, while maximizing the benefits for all stakeholders, especially those most vulnerable (e.g., farmers, women, migrant workers), for example through building resilience, improving livelihoods and promoting human rights. It requires anticipating, preventing, and addressing the social and economic risks associated with climate and agricultural transitions, while supporting the fair sharing of benefits; such as, improved resilience, productivity, and income opportunities, particularly with smallholder farmers, workers, women, and migrant workers who may be disproportionately affected.
Regenerative food system
A regenerative food system is one that goes beyond reducing harm to actively restoring ecological systems, while at the same time strengthening the social, economic and human rights foundations that food production depends or — so that food systems can sustain nature, people and livelihoods over the long term.
What are you doing to help to help tackle climate change?
We published our Roots of Net Zero integrated climate and nature strategy and transition plan in 2026, refreshing our approach to our goals to halve our absolute GHG emissions by 2030 and achieve net zero by 2050, from a 2018 baseline.
We have made significant progress: Peak carbon is behind us and, by the end of 2025, we have reduced our absolute GHG emissions by 24.52% compared to our 2018 baseline.
Learn more in the Environmental Disclosures section of our 2025 Non-Financial Statement (pdf, 18Mb).
What are your priority areas to achieve net zero?
Agriculture
- We aim to source 50% of volumes of key ingredients1 from farmers adopting regenerative agriculture practices by 2030. One of the expected benefits of regenerative agriculture is to make soils healthier by increasing soil organic matter. This improves the soil's ability to sequester carbon and retain water. Supporting farmers is key to achieve this transition so we co-invest with them and pay premiums for ingredients grown through regenerative agriculture practices.
Learn more about our plans on this target.
- We aim to maintain 95-100% assessed deforestation-free primary supply chains for cocoa, green coffee, meat, palm oil, pulp and paper, soy, and sugar At the end of 2025, we achieved 96.9%2. We had set our 2025 goal at 100%. The gap between our performance and meeting that goal is due to traceability and infrastructure challenges in global commodity supply chains. Our commitment stands but reflects this complexity. Through our Global Restoration Program3, we're implementing large-scale reforestation projects in our supply chain and sourcing landscapes. Healthy forests can help us remove carbon from the atmosphere and create measurable outcomes on biodiversity and communities.
Learn more about our plans on this target.
Operations
- We achieved 98.6% renewable electricity sourced in our manufacturing sites, owned R&D centers and owned distribution centers in 2025. We were prevented from reaching the 100% by 2025 target by sourcing challenges, including in countries where renewable electricity is not available to purchase, as well as lack of systemic progress that goes beyond our individual efforts. We aim to maintain 98-100% renewable electricity sourced in our manufacturing sites, owned R&D centers and owned distribution centers.
Our portfolio
- Our brands are central to advancing climate and nature goals. Through recipe reformulation, product line diversification and food waste reduction, we cut emissions while continuing to deliver trusted nutrition.
- In addition, we continue to leverage our R&D capabilities to bring plant-based alternatives to consumers, and to add plant-based versions of existing Nestlé brands, providing consumers with choices that can reduce the carbon footprint of their diet.
1There has been a change in the key ingredients scope from 2026 onwards. The new scope is: cereals and grains; cocoa; coconut; dairy (derivatives and fresh milk); hazelnuts; green coffee; meat, poultry and eggs; soy; spices; sugar; vegetables; and vegetable fat oils (including palm oil).
2This performance number differs from the one available in our Non-Financial Statement 2025 due to a change in the methodology during the first half of 2026. Now we consider ingredients volumes converted back to their original fresh state, instead of their processed form.
3The Global Restoration Program was formerly known as the Global Reforestation Program. Learn more in the Environmental Disclosures section of our 2025 Non-Financial Statement (pdf, 12Mb).
Key terms explained
Healthy soils
Soil health is defined as the continued capacity of soil to function as a vital living ecosystem that sustains plants, animals and humans. Healthy soils support clean air and water, bountiful crops and forests, productive grazing lands, diverse wildlife and beautiful landscapes.
Your Roots of Net Zero strategy appears to be moving away from fixed targets. Can you still meet your climate commitments while the business grows?
We remain committed to achieving a 50% net reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 compared with our 2018 baseline and reaching net zero by 2050 at the latest. We also continue to maintain targets and milestones across key areas of our transition plan, including renewable electricity, responsible sourcing, deforestation-free supply chains and regenerative agriculture. The strategy provides transparency on how we plan to achieve these commitments by linking climate outcomes with the actions needed across sourcing, agriculture, operations and supply chains.
By integrating climate, nature, and people in our transition plan and actions, we are working to help build resilient sourcing systems that we expect can secure supply, reduce risk, strengthen natural capital, and create long-term value for farmers, consumers, and our business.
We believe that sustainability is integral to enhancing our business resilience over the long term to drive growth. Moreover, many of our sustainability initiatives increase our operational efficiency by reducing waste and lowering costs over time.
Key terms explained
Deforestation-free
Deforestation-free means that commodities in scope were assessed as produced on land that has not been subject to deforestation or conversion after a specific cut-off date that varies by commodity, but no later than December 31, 2020. Commodities accounted as deforestation-free include in part commodities subject to the requirements of the EU Deforestation Regulation. However, the scope of disclosed metric goes beyond these jurisdiction-specific mandatory requirements as part of Nestlé’s global approach on deforestation. Read more about deforestation.
What is the scope of your integrated climate and nature transition plan?
Our climate targets are measured against a 2018 baseline (87.1 million tonnes of CO2e). Our ambition is to reduce our net GHG emissions in absolute terms by 50% by 2030 (approximately 44 million tonnes of CO2e).
Our targets cover all three emissions scopes — this means we're also addressing emissions that are not under our direct control. We transparently indicate which emissions fall within scope and which do not.
Read more about our plan toward net zero emissions (pdf, 16Mb).
Do you have targets to reduce methane emissions in your agricultural supply chain?
As part of our Roots of Net Zero integrated climate and nature strategy and transition plan, we have been reducing GHG emissions including methane. We disclose our progress transparently via our Non-Financial Statement. Since 2018, we have reduced methane emissions by 25% in our dairy supply chain, and reduced our absolute GHG emissions by 26% on dairy-related ingredients (fresh milk and dairy derivatives). We believe that a mix of different measures will help us to reduce emissions. For example, we work closely with farmers and run more than 100 climate projects worldwide to reduce and remove GHG emissions and support regenerative agriculture on dairy farms. Also, we are also exploring feed solutions to reduce methane produced during digestion.
Learn more about our Dairy Plan (pdf, 13Mb).
Why did you leave the Dairy Methane Action Alliance? Is it because your progress on reduction is slowing down?
No. In 2025, we kept reducing methane emissions by an additional 3.4% and dairy-related emissions by 2.8% versus 2024, keeping us on track with our Net Zero Roadmap.
We regularly review our membership of external organizations. As part of this process, we decided to discontinue our membership of the Dairy Methane Action Alliance. We appreciate the Alliance's ongoing work on methane emissions reductions in the dairy industry. This decision does not reflect any reduced ambition.
We remain fully committed to reduce GHG emissions in our dairy supply chain and have already achieved a 26% absolute GHG reduction on dairy-related ingredients compared to our 2018 baseline.
Do you use carbon offsetting to achieve your net zero ambition?
No, our Roots of Net Zero integrated climate and nature strategy and transition plan (pdf, 16Mb) does not rely on offsets. We do not use offsets (carbon credits disconnected from our value chain) to deliver against our net zero target by 2050, or our short- and medium-term targets.
To achieve our net zero ambition, we are focused on emissions reductions and carbon removals in our supply chain. The latter consists in using natural climate solutions, such as restoring wetlands, enhancing natural habitats or planting shade trees, to increase the storage of carbon in land and soils in our own value chain.
Is Nestlé still maintaining its commitment on renewable electricity? Where are you disclosing this information?
More than 98% of the electricity we use across our sites, owned R&D centers and owned distribution centers in 2025 was purchased from renewable sources. This was achieved in spite of sourcing challenges, including in countries where renewable electricity is not available to purchase, as well as lack of systemic progress that goes beyond our individual efforts.
Our strategy remains focused on maximizing renewable electricity adoption and reliance on robust sourcing mechanisms to secure our renewable electricity supply while accounting for the practical realities of energy systems and market availability across geographies.
Our approach is to help increase demand for renewable power and drive new wind and solar infrastructure.
We provide more granular information on this matter in response to requests by ESG rating agencies, as appropriate.
You have received criticisms before on how much information you disclose on your progress. How does Nestlé report on its net zero targets and progress in reducing greenhouse gas emissions?
Since making our net zero commitment in 2019, we have consistently communicated Nestlé's climate ambitions, actions and progress through our annual reporting. Our Non-Financial Statement (NFS) includes information on our greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions performance, progress against our climate commitments, and the actions we are taking across our value chain, such as increasing the use of renewable electricity and supporting farmers in the transition to regenerative agricultural practices. We have also published a detailed climate and nature strategy and transition plan (Nestlé’s Roots of Net Zero) (pdf, 16Mb) that outlines our strategy and key interventions enabling us to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the 2018 baseline and achieve net zero by 2050 at the latest, through actions implemented across every stage of the value chain, with a strong focus on agricultural sourcing.
