Sustainability

Nestlé makes ‘good progress’ with its forest positive agenda in cocoa, despite coronavirus impact

06-May-2021 - Last updated on 06-May-2021 at 13:06 GMT

Nestlé will continue to work with all stakeholders to help protect and restore forests, the company said. Pic: Nestlé

Nestlé has said it has made ‘good progress’ over the past 12 months in advancing its forest positive agenda on its cocoa farms in Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire.

For the past three years since it signed up to the public-private Cocoa & Forests Initiative (CFI), Nestlé said it has been working with the governments of Cote d'Ivoire and Ghana, its suppliers, its partners and the cocoa farming communities to scale up its actions.

Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, which inevitably impacted certain activities such as mapping the farmers' lands, farmers' training, and cookstoves distribution, Nestlé said it remains aligned with its commitment to source 100% of its cocoa sustainably under the Nestlé Cocoa Plan by 2025.

Releasing its CFI progress report, Nestlé said deforestation remains one of the pressing issues facing the cocoa sector, especially in West Africa. In March 2019, the company published a detailed action plan to support these collective efforts.

Nestlé's said its achievements so far include:

Mapping 85% of the farm boundaries of the 110 000 Nestlé Cocoa Plan farmers in Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire
Distributing over 1 million native forest and local fruit trees in Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana to make farms more climate-resilient and to diversify farmers' incomes
Distributing over 2 million high-yielding cocoa trees in Ghana to restore cocoa-growing farms and boost productivity
Helping more than 10, 000 people benefiting from financial support through village saving loan associations in Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana
Distributing 1,000 more efficient and less polluting cookstoves to reduce pressure on forests and help improve family health in Côte d'Ivoire
Engaging over 4,900 individuals in income-generating projects in Côte d'Ivoire in 2020
Training and sensitising over 10,000 farmers on the importance of protecting forest and agricultural best practices in 2020

Nestlé also said it recognises that for a lasting and meaningful impact, in addition to addressing deforestation linked to cocoa, it needs to conserve and restore forests actively while promoting sustainable livelihoods and respecting human rights.

The company said it will continue to work with all stakeholders to help protect and restore forests, promote sustainable cocoa production and thriving communities, and create a forest positive future for all – and has pledged to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 at the latest.

2 comments

Want to be seen to doing the right thing!

Posted by Sylvia Kliska, 06 May 2021 - 21:49 GMT

Headlines are great Nestle doing the right thing! Yet they still produce imitation chocolate made with vegetable fat (palm oil) and just a small amount of cocoa - "Melts buttons."
It's a shame that we are promoting good practice but are hiding the fact that they are creating a very inferior product using palm oil - which also destroys much of the planet -and is full of processed ingredients and very little nutritional value.
They even display the UTZ logo on the packaging but don't disclose the amount of cocoa in the ingredient list. In the end it's all about profit!!

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Always the same lie: please come to the Bossematié

Posted by François Ruf, 06 May 2021 - 17:06 GMT

Again, this is communication, not reality. Responsible multinationals should not communicate on their 'forest positive' agenda while forests are burning

Let's take an example around Abengourou:
I guess that Nestlé buys cocoa beans and semi-processed cocoa from Barry-Callebaut, Cargill and Olam. All these companies buy a lot of cocoa beans from the cooperatives in the region of Abengrourou. Most of these cooperatives buy cocoa from the BOSSEMATIE 'classified forest thriught anework of 'pisteurs'. ' The traceability of beans is a still a myth. You know which cooperatve sells cocoa to you, but you do not know for sure where these cocoa beans come from.
Meantime, illegal migrants enter the forest by hundreds. Buses full or migrants come from Oumé, Vavoua, Burkina Faso and are helped by a few local individuals to enter the forest and clear it massively We habe been observing a dramativ acceleration for the last two-years.
All the beans produced in this forest end up in the factories of the grinders. No exception.
Messieurs les dirigeants de Nestlé ou Barry-Callebaut et les autres compagnies, encore une fois, c'est très bien d'aider les planteurs à planter des arbres, c'est déjà un progrès, mais ne faites pas croire aux consommateurs que vous protégez les forêts en distribuant des plants de trois Akpi et deux Fraké dans les cacaoyères. Vous continuez d'acheter les fèves de ces forêts classées, Quand les forêts ont déjà disparu depuis longtemps, ça n'a plus d'importance. Mais quand il s'agit de forêt déjà très dégradées mais qui pourraient encore être sauvées, telles la Bossématié, votre communication n'est pas digne (et de mon oint de vue de chercheur, quasi insupportable). Si vous aidiez les populations riveraines à sauver leurs forêts (actuellement impuissantes devant le raz de marrée des migrants illégaux), votre communication serait plus acceptable.