NESCAFE, Nestle’s largest coffee brand, will invest over one billion Swiss francs (over US$1 billion) by 2030 in NESCAFE Plan 2030, a programme to help make coffee farming more sustainable.

This investment builds on the existing NESCAFE Plan as the brand expands its sustainability work. It is supported by Nestle's regenerative agriculture financing following the group's commitment to accelerate the transition to a regenerative food system and its ambition to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions.

“Climate change is putting coffee-growing areas under pressure,” said David Rennie, head of Nestle Coffee Brands. “Building on 10 years’ experience of the NESCAFE Plan, we are accelerating our work to help tackle climate change and address social and economic challenges in the NESCAFE value chains.”

Rising temperatures will reduce the area suitable for growing coffee by up to 50 per cent by 2050. At the same time, around 125 million people depend on coffee for their livelihoods and an estimated 80 per cent of coffee-farming families live at or below the poverty line. Action is needed to ensure the long-term sustainability of coffee, the brand said.

“As the world’s leading coffee brand, NESCAFE aims to have a real impact on coffee farming globally. 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,” Philipp Navratil, head of Nestle’s Coffee Strategic Business Unit.

Under the plan, NESCAFE will provide farmers with training, technical assistance and high-yielding coffee plantlets to help them transition to regenerative coffee farming practices.

In addition, it will be working with coffee farmers to test, learn and assess the effectiveness of multiple regenerative agriculture practices. This will be done with a focus on seven key origins, from where the brand sources 90 per cent of its coffee: Brazil, Viet Nam, Mexico, Colombia, Cote d’Ivoire, Indonesia and Honduras.

NESCAFE aims to contribute to Nestle’s Zero Net commitment to halve greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 and reach zero net greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

It will work with farmers, suppliers and partners to help protect agricultural lands, enhance biodiversity and help prevent deforestation. The brand intends to help farmers plant more than 20 million trees at or near their coffee farms.

In Viet Nam, since 2011, Nestle Vietnam has cooperated with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the Western Highlands Agriculture and Forestry Science Institute, and provincial agricultural extension centres to support coffee farmers through the NESCAFE Plan in the transition journey.

Over the last decade, the programme has achieved significant positive socio-economic and environmental impacts. — VNS