Nestle Philippines is the country’s Kasambuhay for the Environment
As Nestle Philippines celebrates its 110th year in the Philippines, the company is more determined than ever to do its share in tackling climate change, pioneering sustainability practices and pushing its initiatives towards zero net greenhouse gas emission.
With the alarming and long-term effects of climate change already upon us today— increasing water temperatures, heatwaves, and heavy precipitation, as well as melting ice and permanent frost resulting in rising sea levels, among many others—this has compelled Nestlé, as a company, to act responsibly and courageously.
“We all know climate change is one of the greatest threats to life on Earth. so for our part, as Kasambuhay for the Environment, we are deeply committed to attaining our environment goals consistent with the Nestle global ambition of achieving netzero carbon emission by 2050 at the latest, cutting our emission in half by 2030,” said Arlene Tan-bantoto, Head of Public Affairs, sustainability and Communications of Nestle Philippines.
Time-bound action plan
SINCE making the commitment, Bantoto said Nestle has been “working on a timebound action plan across our value change including interim targets consistent with the Paris Agreement which aims to limit global warming to 1.5 degree Celsius.” Achieving this, she said would require radical action across the value chain, something that the company cannot do alone.
“Reducing emissions and reaching netzero require collaborative approaches with suppliers, customers, academics, policymakers, and civil society at large,” she said.
Tan-bantoto said Nestlé is driven by its purpose as a company to unlock the power of food and beverages, to enhance the quality of life for everyone today and the generation to come and these are based on three major pillars.
“First, for individuals and families. We strive to make children live healthier lives through our expertise on nutrition, health, and wellness. For communities, we strive to improve the livelihood of coffee farmers and communities that intersect with our business. And finally, for the planet, we strive to ensure zero impact on the environment,” she said.
Three areas
TAN-BANTOTO pointed out that the company has already demonstrated that it has the size and the scale to help tackle climate change. Currently, it is engaged in three areas—transforming operations, sourcing responsibly, and shaping a waste-free future.
Under transformation operations, Nestlé has been able to greenhouse gas emissions in their factories by 40 percent since 2020. This is equivalent to around 23,000 cars in one year. it has also reduced water usage by 24 percent or the equivalent of 350 swimming pools and energy usage reduction by 38 percent or the equivalent of 44.8 million liters.
“We have also switched to clean energy. in fact, all our factories in Luzon and the Makati administrative office run on 100 percent renewable electricity. We only have one more factory to go, in Cagayan de oro. We hope that the line will be available there so we can switch to renewable energy,” she said.
Under sourcing responsibly, Tan-bantoto noted that Nestlé is the biggest buyer of coffee produced in the country, the robusta variety, which is the only ingredient in Nescafe. The company prefers to source its raw materials locally.
“By doing so we support our farmers and we promote the planting of more crops which absorb greenhouse gas emissions and reduce carbon in the atmosphere. We continue to work with the farmers on actively managing and restoring soils and improving biodiversity. Through our Nescafe Plant, Robusta farmers in Mindanao are learning regenerative agriculture and sustainable coffee production. Regenerative agriculture is a farming system that aims to conserve and restore farmland and its ecosystem,” she explained.
Locally sourced
Aside from coffee, the company also sources its sugar locally and it works with small-scale sugar cane growers, millers, and industry stakeholders in Negros occidental. This way, the company helps to address areas of sustainability and needs within the small planters supply base.
Under shaping a waste-free future, Tanbantoto said Nestle Philippines achieved an important milestone earlier this month by becoming the country’s first multinational FMCG (Fast-moving consumer goods) company to attain plastic neutrality.
“This means that we are collecting, coprocessing, and therefore, diverting from nature the equivalent amount of plastic that we put out in the market. i’m happy to report that we had collected and diverted from the environment 27 million kilos of plastic waste. That’s 2,700 dump trucks of waste collected so that they do not end in landfills and eventually in the ocean. This August is our first anniversary to have done this. so, we are very proud of this milestone and we hope that other companies can also follow soon,” she shared.
Tan-bantoto also shared that Nestlé is continuously innovating and developing technology to achieve its commitment to making its packaging recyclable or reusable by 2025.
“We try to do as much as we can. And 24/7 our Research and development all over the world are looking at paperization. Today, we are also very happy to share with you that we are only the FMCG to shift from plastic straws to paper straws. This cost four times more than plastic straws but this helps us divert 600 million plastic straws from ending again in landfills and in the oceans. our Milo, Maggi Magic sarap, and Nescafe 3-in-1 used to be in poly bags which aren’t biodegradable so they also end up in landfills and oceans. so, we took the initiative to convert it into paper bags. This is not a very easy action. initially, we also had some pushbacks from stores and merchandisers because they need extra tender loving care in handling these products,” she said.
she added that Nestle is accelerating its efforts to address climate change in the country, reiterating though that such a task would not be possible if they did it alone.
“Maybe we can ask ourselves: are we ready to adopt new ways of thinking to make the investment required of us, to face a hard decision and change on how we do businesses, to embrace new technologies, and to work and help one another? We need to create shared value as we pursue sustainability, to do good not only to ourselves, not only for our business but for the society as a whole,” Tan-bantoto concluded.