Since 2014, Nespresso has developed a sustainability agenda through The Positive Cup, a program that encapsulates a vision for every cup of coffee to have a positive impact on the world. This newly announced roadmap builds on this foundation, expanding on our previous commitments to lower our carbon emissions, and renewing our goal to have a positive impact on the world. Our broader sustainability vision includes our approach to preserving exceptional coffees, building a resilient and regenerative coffee agriculture for Nespresso and the communities the business operates within, driving sustainable livelihoods for farmers, and building a circular business.

At Nespresso, we believe that coffee can be a force for good, positively impacting the lives of our customers, the farmers we work with, the planet and nature. We have a responsibility to protect the future of coffee, and the communities that depend on it. Because of this, sustainability has been at the heart of everything we do for over 30 years.

Coffee-growing regions are particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change. Extreme temperature fluctuations, heavy rainfall and droughts pose serious risks to coffee crop productivity and can exacerbate pests and disease. As a result, climate change reduces the suitability of existing regions to produce coffee, threatening the livelihoods of coffee farmers and communities across the world.

The higher-quality coffees with the Arabica plant that Nespresso mainly sources, is particularly vulnerable to weather shocks, as it is more climate inflexible, and more sensitive to coffee leaf rust and other diseases.

Globally 12.5 million coffee farmers may be potentially affected by these changes and need to build resilience against a changing climate, and especially against extreme weather events.

Intensive agriculture (including conventional coffee production) is a contributor to climate change. Evidence shows that around 22% of global GHG emissions come from conventional agricultural practices including land use changes. That is why for more than 20 years, we have promoted the adoption of sustainable farming practices through our coffee sourcing program, the Nespresso AAA™ Sustainable Quality Program.

There is an urgent need to transform the way coffee is cultivated, ensuring the environmental impact of coffee production is reduced whilst coffee-farming communities are supported to become more resilient against the impacts of climate change. Trees help to absorb carbon dioxide, enrich the soil, reduce erosion, regulate water use and increase biodiversity.We started our specific work to increase coffee farmers’ resilience to climate change through agroforestry back in 2014. Since then, we have already planted 10 million trees, out of which 9 million will contribute to insetting, securing annual carbon removals over their lifetimes. We continue to build on this work and today we want to go further.

We believe that a low-carbon economy is the only future and will aim to reduce and remove emissions throughout our value chain even as we continue to grow. Our climate journey began in 2009 and we are taking concrete action on the causes and consequences of climate change .

In continuing our journey of action to deal with the impact of climate change, we have committed to a roadmap which will drive change both within and outside of our company. Three targets have been fully validated by the Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi) in 2024 in line with SBTi’s Forestry Land and Agriculture (FLAG) Target-Setting Guidance to reduce emissions across scopes 1, 2 and 3.

1. Net-Zero target: Committed to achieving Net-Zero GHG emissions by 2050 in accordance with SBTi standards.
2. Near-Term target: By 2030, Nespresso plans to cut its GHG emissions by 50% compared to its 2018 baseline, in accordance with SBTi standards (Scope 1 & 2, 3 Non-FLAG GHG emissions)
3. FLAG (Forest, Land and Agriculture) target: By 2030 Nespresso commits to reduce scope 3 FLAG GHG emission by 75% (vs the 2018 baseline) in accordance with SBTi standards. For Nespresso this mainly includes the green coffee production.

Acceleration Ambition: On top of the SBTi validated targets we are seeking for ways to accelerate to achieve the Net Zero target as early as 2035.

The regions where we source coffees are particularly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. Extreme temperature fluctuations, heavy rainfall and droughts pose serious risks to coffee crops. What’s more, they can exacerbate pests and disease. Through sustainable coffee farming practices fostered in programs like the Nespresso AAA Sustainable Quality™ Program, we are supporting farmers to reduce the environmental impact of coffee farming and safeguarding their land for the future. Coffee producers receive training and technical assistance that encourage the adoption of good agricultural practices. These include guidance on using the appropriate amount of fertilizer and managing wastewater after milling.

We also promote biodiversity and healthy ecosystems through agroforestry, which further improves soil quality, regulates temperatures and protects against soil erosion. Planting trees in and around coffee farms helps communities build resilience by providing a layer of insulation that keeps ground temperatures more stable while trees’ roots hold the earth intact during heavy rains, preventing land erosion. They also sequester carbon, which contributes to balancing emissions. The carbon sequestration of the planted trees helps to further mitigate the Nespresso footprint.

The Nespresso AAA Sustainable Quality™ Program differs from Fair Trade in that it seeks to find a long-term balance between high quality - which is the primary basis for the selection of our coffees - and social, environmental, and economic criteria. This program has been developed in close collaboration with Rainforest Alliance, a leading non-governmental organization.

Nespresso committed that the communities of coffee farmers that produce our high quality coffee benefit from the excellence of their crop. The AAA premium that Nespresso pays participating farmers is roughly 30-40% above the standard market price for coffee and 10-15% above coffees of similar quality. The program is about more than paying a premium; it is about building a long term relationship with coffee farmers.

For further information regarding our sustainability approach, please click here.

Earlier this year we launched our first organic coffee, Kahawa ya Congo, and we look forward to offering more organic options in the future.

In addition to this, we do offer coffee sourced from our AAA Sustainable Quality™ Program. The aim of this program, created in collaboration with the Rainforest Alliance in 2003, is to improve the growing practices of the farms from which the highest quality coffees are cultivated.

We believe that other dimensions of coffee production (e.g. economic and social aspects) are equally as important to producers, their communities and the future development of their farms.

The AAA Program incorporates the “Tool for the Assessment of Sustainable Quality” (TASQ™). TASQ categorizes and assesses each farm in order to determine how to improve the quality of the final coffee product and the socio-economic well-being of the farmers themselves. We are proud to say that we currently source over 90% of our coffee from the AAA program, and we are dedicated to increasing that percentage in the future.

For further information regarding our sustainability approach, please click here.

Yes, and we will be sharing more information on this in due course.

We are committed to achieving Net zero GHG emissions by 2050 in accordance with SBTi standards, and are now accelerating towards our SBTi 2030 near-term targets, approved in May 2024. We are doing so through a myriad of ways including greenhouse gas reductions and removals as we believe that a low-carbon economy is the only future.

Learn more about our efforts in our latest Positive Cup report here.

Our GHG emissions reduction targets were approved by the SBTi in 2024. This included full validation of our targets across scopes 1, 2, and 3, including for Forestry, Land and Agriculture (FLAG), positioning Nespresso as a leader in ambitious climate action, with a decarbonization pathway aligned to the Paris Agreement and its goal of limiting global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. We continue to reduce the primary emission factor of AAA green coffee, with estimates showing a decline in 2024 from 5.0 to 4.3 kg CO2 e/kg GC. This progress is driven by reductions, removals, and a commitment to zero deforestation. To support this transition, we are equipping AAA farmers with regenerative agricultural practices through the deployment of agronomic packages in Brazil, Costa Rica and Colombia.

We have launched a Carbon Accounting Tool (CAT) to help identify the source of our impact, track progress and develop forward-looking scenarios. We have also launched a network of over 15 Climate Champions  across HQ departments to accelerate our path to net zero and close the identified gap to Nespresso’s emission reduction targets by 2030. All markets have also set a target of 100% renewable electricity for their boutiques and offices, further reinforcing our commitment to sustainability.

In 2024, we delivered 2 million more trees as part of our agroforestry program, bringing the total to 9 million trees delivered for carbon removals since 2014. These tree contribute directly to our net zero journey by enhancing carbon removals.

Our sustainability commitments are approved by the Science Based Targets initiatives (SBTi) and are aligned with the Paris Agreement’s 1.5 Celsius target.

Yes! Nespresso is proudly B Corp Certified with a score of 84. Learn more about the criteria, encompassed by B Labs’s five key pillars, to earn this score here

Regenerative agriculture is a farming approach that works to rehabilitate the land and environment through actions (i.e., no-till planting, no use of pesticides, synthetic fertilizers, etc.) that intend to restore soil health, improve biodiversity, and mitigate climate change.

At Nespresso, we believe that nature is our greatest ally in securing the future of coffee, so we will scale up regenerative agricultural practices to help restore landscapes and enhance farmers’ livelihoods. Currently over 80% of our green coffee is sourced from farms that practice regenerative agriculture and our goal is to sources 95% by 2030 in collaboration with Rainforest Alliance.

In 2024, we were assessed by Enveritas, which estimated that 83% of our AAA green coffee is sourced from farms practicing regenerative agriculture, equivalent to a Bronze rating on the Regenerative Coffee Scorecard. The assessment also projects that 65% of AAA green coffee volume would reach Gold level – representing farms with more diverse ecosystems and a greater reliance on nature-based inputs than Bronze farms. We are making steady progress in building the case for regenerative transition, deploying new agronomic packs and incentives to test adoption rates in three key origins: Brazil, Colombia and Costa Rica. Beyond fostering behavioral change and education, these learnings will help us develop market-based mechanisms that can drive meaningful impact – supporting our ambition for 70% of our coffee to come from Gold-rated farms by 2030.

In collaboration with FAIRTRADE, our goal is to ensure that all AAA smallholder farmers in Colombia, Guatemala, Indonesia, Mexico and Peru receive the Living Income Reference Price by 2030.

100

286,000 tons of CO2

414,653. That’s more than 825k football fields!

Nespresso works with Blue Marble, a leading farmland insurance company, which is active in six countries and has supported more than 25,000 farmers in 2024 and distributed $7.3 million in payouts since 2018.

Nespresso works with agri-tech startup UBEES to bring connected beehives to AAA farms in Colombia’s Jardin, Caldas and Huila regions. This state-of-the-art technology enables real time monitoring of beehive health and pollination. In 2024, Nespresso announced a loan of $1 million to support UBEES, in partnership with the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation (IFC), to scale up their program in Colombia. The goal is to install 200,000 beehives over the next 10 years, alongside other external contributions across Latin America and Africa. This investment will empower more farmers to adopt regenerative practices and diversify their incomes.

The AAA Sustainable Quality™ Program is a responsible coffee sourcing program designed to ensure the continued supply of high-quality coffee while improving the livelihoods of farmers and their communities and protecting the environment. Built in partnership with the Rainforest Alliance, AAA encompasses three pillars of impact; Quality, Productivity and Sustainability. Quality: Help farmers produce higher quality coffees which benefit from increased revenues and also provide access to new and differentiated markets. Productivity: Enable productivity improvements and assist in farm economic management, providing greater income stability to farmers. Sustainability: Improve the social and environmental sustainability of farming practices to increase the wellbeing and financial security of farmers, and protect natural capital.

98%

Globally, Nespresso partners with Pur Projet, UBEES, B Lab, Rainforest Alliance, FAIRTRADE International and Fair Trade.

“We have worked together with Nespresso for two decades championing sustainable coffee agriculture. We are committed to accelerating our shared journey to regenerative farming that improves rural landscapes and livelihoods.” Santigo Gowland, CEO, Rainforest Alliance