Pulp and paper sourcing
Nestlé uses pulp and paper products for food packaging, wrapping and transportation.
Our progress toward sourcing pulp and paper responsibly
99.0
%
Our approach to sourcing pulp and paper responsibly
Our responsible sourcing work concentrates on packaging with a specific focus on corrugated, micro flute boards, and solid boards. We are committed to eliminating deforestation from our supply chain and addressing associated challenges like forest degradation and its impact on carbon storage, biodiversity and community well-being.
We aim to source only pulp and paper that meet our Responsible Sourcing Core Requirements. We annually publish a list of our Tier 1 pulp and paper suppliers (pdf, 400Kb) and related pulp and paper mills (pdf, 350Kb) in our upstream supply chain. Doing so helps to drive industry-wide transparency and allows us to focus on supplier progress and tackling the most relevant supply chain challenges. We have seen others following suit, which is encouraging, though more effort is needed within our sector.
Tackling deforestation and degradation risks
Our strategy prioritizes commodities where in the past there has been a higher risk of deforestation. For over 10 years, we have worked on the ground to trace where our raw materials come from to assess and address deforestation-risks in our supply chains. We have endeavored to ensure our pulp and paper supply chain is assessed deforestation-free and reached 99.0% in 2024. We are now committed to improving and maintaining that status.
For many years we have been addressing deforestation and promoting responsible forest stewardship within our value chain, helping to safeguard and restore forests and peatlands that also function as carbon sinks.
In practice, this means engaging supply chain partners to understand their operations and potential expansion plans. It also means collaborating to find a balance between production and protection. These efforts allow us to support healthy and productive forest landscapes in line with our Responsible Sourcing Core Requirements and Net Zero Roadmap.
Our specific sourcing requirements for pulp and paper, developed in conjunction with Earthworm, include:
- Adherence to local and national regulations and laws.
- Protection of High Carbon Stock Approach (HCSA) forests.
- Protection of high-conservation-value sites.
- No development on peat, regardless of depth.
- Respecting the process of free, prior and informed consent.
We are also partnering with Airbus and Earthworm Foundation to use Starling satellite technology to identify forest loss in our high-risk sourcing landscapes. It will also help us understand whether this is resulting in the deforestation and degradation of High Carbon Value (HCV) forests. Following the development of base maps, we undertook field missions in 2019 to gauge the accuracy of the data. We have since used this technology to analyze changes in forest cover across key priority landscapes. This increased visibility allows us to observe changes in real-time. The information has informed more targeted discussions with suppliers on forest cover change alerts and supported the development of forest-positive interventions and solutions with them and other stakeholders.
We also use Starling data to map trends in forest biomass and carbon to support future resource use planning decisions. Our commitment to net zero emissions by 2050 will continue to push us to seek new innovations to reduce emissions through restoration and conservation activities in these landscapes and other forest sources with our pulp and paper suppliers.
Actions in connection with biodiversity hotspots
Thanks to close to 15 years of local engagement in specific landscapes, Nestlé is able to better understand where agriculture and nature can flourish together and where agriculture may need to put less pressure on nature in order to help rebalance the ecosystem, while respecting the rights of indigenous and local communities.
In that context we are taking actions, including exploring the decrease of our sourcing demand from the Swedish Northern Boreal region. This, while continuing to support the sustainable development of the region through multistakeholder efforts. We have identified this region as a biodiversity hotspot and is expected to benefit from higher conservation efforts and social/land rights considerations.
Helping to secure land rights
As part of our Human Rights Framework, we have developed action plans for the most salient issues in our supply chains. In our pulp and paper supply chain, Indigenous peoples and local communities' land rights have been identified as a key issue. Our Indigenous people and communities' land rights action plan articulates our strategy to assess, address and report on this issue.
We continue to advocate for Indigenous peoples and local communities' land rights, including by supporting landscape- and jurisdictional-wide initiatives and Global Reforestation Program projects. We are also monitoring human rights risks, engaging directly with upstream suppliers on respecting land rights at the production level.
Collective action and engagement
We recognize we need to take action to tackle deforestation and degradation risks associated with our pulp and paper supply chain. However, as a single organization, we do not always have the leverage to drive and scale up change. This is why we engage in industry-wide collaborations like the Consumer Goods Forum’s Forest Positive Coalition which helps drive collective action. We also actively seek opportunities to collaborate with like-minded companies on key issues and in priority landscapes, including the following initiatives.
Social conflicts around land use and land rights are frequent in Brazil and throughout Latin America. We support Earthworm Foundation’s Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) training program, which aims to address expertise gaps in this field. The program, in conjunction with 3M, is establishing a set of practices in the private sector that protect community rights and prevent social conflicts by creating shared values between forestry companies and local communities, including indigenous peoples.
We also have a five-year partnership with FSC Brazil and the Cooperative Program for Forest Certification within the Forestry Research Institute of the University of São Paulo. Through the partnership, we will promote and improve social management practices, including the development of FPIC training.
In Indonesia, we are involved in efforts to help protect remaining forests and peatland from degradation and deforestation in the Giam Siak Kecil-Bukit Batu bioreserve of Riau, Sumatra Island. The reserve covers over 700 000 hectares and is predominantly tropical peat swamp forest. It plays a vital role as a natural water reservoir and carbon sink and is home to important wildlife such as Sumatran elephants and tigers. Of the total area, 25% is already allocated for conservation purposes. The remaining 75% is a mix of production areas for pulp and paper, palm oil, and company and community-owned agriculture. The presence of multiple actors in this area has resulted in a complicated overlap of interests, various tenure conflicts and human versus wildlife conflicts. The enduring presence of illegal logging and land conversion is also contributing to forest degradation in the area.
In addition to using Starling satellite technology to understand where forest is being cleared, we are working with stakeholders to identify motives for land conversion. In 2020, we invested in Earthworm Foundation’s Kumacaya Initiative, an independent verification system that employs local people to monitor activities and record any environmental, community and labor grievances observed by local communities. By combining insights from Kumacaya with data collected by Starling and engaging with the relevant companies and stakeholders, we can identify solutions that prevent deforestation and biodiversity loss while supporting local community livelihoods.
In 2020, we began contributing to the provision of alternative livelihoods for community members in two local villages outside of our supply chain. Following a year of engagement facilitated by Earthworm Foundation, 30 community members who previously worked as illegal loggers are now cultivating local multi-purpose trees including durian, dog fruit, areca nut and candlenut. Nestlé funding supported the development of village nurseries to prepare these, and other, local seedlings to help restore forests. Earthworm Foundation will continue supporting these communities until the new plantations generate satisfactory yields. We aim to expand this work to additional villages in the area and train a local forest patrol group.
