Nestlé Nespresso SA, launches Ecolaboration™, a platform for sustainable innovation, committing itself to three major targets that will significantly enhance its sustainability performance by 2013.
Photo: © Kjpargeter | Dreamstime.com
Through Ecolaboration™, Nespresso, the worldwide pioneer and market leader in highest-quality premium portioned coffee, will consolidate and extend all of Nespresso’s sustainability efforts in coffee, capsules, machines, together with its overall operations, into a single concerted programme.
Nespresso used its annual International Management Meeting in Barcelona to brief more than 200 of its top global executives about the details and commitments of Ecolaboration™ and also conducted an Executive Stakeholder briefing with key partners.
Ecolaboration™ targets commit the organization to coffee, capsules and carbon targets by 2013. Nespresso will source 80 percent of its coffee through its unique AAA Sustainable Quality™ Program and Rainforest Alliance Certified™ farms. It will put systems in place to triple its capacity to recycle used capsules to 75 percent and it will reduce the overall Carbon Footprint required to produce every cup of Nespresso by 20 percent.
Ecolaboration™ will deliver sustainable success for Nespresso through a platform for partnership with business partners, stakeholders and innovators who contribute to the continuous improvement of the sustainability of the Nespresso value chain, a networking framework to bring together key stakeholders, thinkers, advisors, technical experts, NGOs, business partners and others to collaborate around new ideas and innovation, which will serve to improve the sustainability performance of Nespresso, and further specific Ecolaboration™ commitments and framework agreements between Nespresso and its key partners.
Ecolaboration™ will foster best practice and creativity through unique collaborations under two new initiatives. The AluCycle™ initiative will promote enhanced sustainability performance of aluminum, through convening key industry stakeholders in conjunction with IUCN, the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
Nespresso and IUCN are pleased to announce that this stakeholder event will take place on 29 and 30 June 2009 at IUCN’s headquarters near Geneva in Switzerland. The VerTech™ Network will bring together Nespresso’s machine suppliers, engineers and sustainable technology experts to design the Nespresso machines of the future.
“IUCN is delighted to work with Nespresso to bring together a broad group of stakeholders in a landmark event to help map out future plans to improve the sustainability of aluminium," says Juan Marco Alvarez, IUCN’s Director of Economics and Environmental Governance. "Through the AluCycle™ initiative, Nespresso and IUCN will look at the entire aluminium lifecycle, from bauxite mining with its biodiversity implications, through to post consumer recycling and reuse. Nespresso has shown strong leadership in coffee sustainability over recent years. IUCN looks forward to partnering with Nespresso to lead aluminium on a more sustainable path in the future.”
"With an average growth rate of 30 percent over the last eight years, Nespresso has been a highly successful company and strongly active in sustainability. Today, we are announcing Ecolaboration™ and its ambitious targets, which will be our path to truly sustainable success in the future,” says Richard Girardot, CEO of Nestlé Nespresso SA.
“Ecolaboration™ is a unique expression of how sustainable innovation will be put to work for Nespresso, where highest quality and continuous innovation are at the heart of all we do. Ecolaboration™ is a framework within which we can formalize our relationships with key sustainability stakeholders, and build new Ecolaboration™ agreements. These Ecolaboration™ initiatives will help us achieve our targets and become not only a truly sustainable company.”
Nespresso has a track record of success and partnership in sustainability, establishing the Nespresso AAA Sustainable Quality™ program in 2003, together with the Rainforest Alliance. Farmers in Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala and Mexico have received tools and training to increase production, improve quality and conserve natural resources. Recent studies have confirmed the benefits of the program are not just environmental (though these are themselves significant) but also social and economic.
Ecolaboration™ will renew the agreement with the Rainforest Alliance to see the AAA Sustainability™ program significantly enhanced to meet the ambitious goal of sourcing 80% of Nespresso’s coffee from farms which have achieved Rainforest Alliance Certification. As a framework for collaboration and innovation, Ecolaboration™ will also provide the means to work more closely with Nespresso’s key partners, international organizations and NGOs such as the International Finance Corporation, and Technoserve, as well as in-country programs like Costa Rica’s Peace with Nature.
“After five years of collaboration in demonstrating the connection between sustainable farm management practices and coffee quality, the Rainforest Alliance and our partner NGOs in the Sustainable Agriculture Network are pleased to join with Nespresso in taking this relationship broader and deeper," says.Tensie Whelan, Rainforest Alliance president. "The Ecolaboration commitment means that we will work with as many as 80,000 farmers in nine countries, guiding them to meet high standards for environmental, economic and social performance. Farmers and Nespresso Club Members will all benefit from sustainable quality coffee.”
Mr Girardot confirmed that following the successful introduction in the current award-winning CitiZ range of machines, eco-timers and stand-by switches will be incorporated into the manufacture of all Nespresso machines as of mid-2009 as a concrete step towards the carbon footprint reduction target.
“Ecolaboration™ will bring very significant environmental, social and economic benefits to Nespresso, our consumers, and especially our many thousands of coffee growing partners in Central America, Africa and soon India. The unique Nespresso business model allows us to guarantee and even improve quality at every stage of our value chain. Our entire management is passionate about Ecolaboration™, which is another dimension of our commitment to highest quality in all we do. Ecolaboration™ will allow us introduce sustainable innovation into everything we do, powering Nespresso’s growth, our sustainable success, into the future,” Mr Girardot said.
A new interactive website, http://www.nespresso.com/ecolaboration/ is now available and will allow Nespresso Club Members, stakeholders and the public to access more detailed information about Nespresso’s new Ecolaboration™ program. Nespresso will share progress on its Ecolaboration™ targets and new Ecolaboration™ initiatives with stakeholders on a regular basis.
Ecolaboration™ delivers Nespresso’s obligations under parent Nestlé’s Sustainable Development strategy, “Creating Shared Value,” www.nestle.com/CSV/CSVHome.htm
