Yes. Over the past ten years we’ve halved the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from our factories per kilo of product.We are committed to lowering the GHG emissions associated with the production and distribution of our food and beverages, by improving energy efficiency, using cleaner fuels and investing in renewable sources. For example: switching from long-distance road transportation to rail or short-sea shipping in Europe, opting for wind power to supply energy to our factories in Mexico, and installing wood-fired boilers at some of our factories in France.
How does your performance compare to other companies?
We are one of the leaders in the areas of climate change mitigation and adaptation. Our practices for cutting GHGs, and disclosing our activities in this area, have been consistently recognised as among the best in the industry.In 2013 and 2012 we achieved the maximum score in the CDP ‘Climate Disclosure Leadership Index’ and the CDP ‘Climate Performance Leadership Index’, both of which are published in the Global 500 Climate Change Report 2013 (pdf, 1.48Mb).The CDP indices measure the performance of the top 500 companies in the FTSE Global Equity Index in terms of their efforts to cut carbon emissions, as well as the transparency of the information they disclose.In 2013 we were the leading food products company in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index for the first time with a score of 88%, double the industry average. Our strong policies and transparent reporting in the area of environmental sustainability - including our climate change mitigation activities - led to us achieving 97% in the ‘environment dimension’ of the Dow Jones Sustainability Index - the best score in the industry.
The Oxfam 'Behind the Brands' scorecard, which assesses 10 food and beverage companies on their policies and commitments to improve food security and sustainability, continues to rank Nestlé first on climate change.
What else is Nestlé doing to mitigate climate change?
We have pledged that our products will not be associated with deforestation. This pledge covers all of the raw materials we use to make our products, as well as packaging.As well as committing to lowering the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with the production and distribution of our products, we commit to designing products that help consumers lower their own GHG emissions, and we work with farmers to improve their resilience to climate change. You can find out more about our efforts here.For example, in Europe we have pledged to systematically introduce more environmentally efficient ice cream freezers. From now on all new commercial horizontal ice cream chest freezers we buy across the continent will use only natural refrigerants. These are naturally occurring substances that do not harm the ozone layer and have no or negligible global warming effects.And our work to help cocoa and coffee farmers adapt to environmental challenges has been recognised as an example of best practice by the United Nations’ Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).(www.nestle.com)