Nestlé exits global alliance to reduce methane emissions

The alliance, founded in December 2023 by the US environmental organisation Environmental Defense Fund, brings together companies such as Danone, Kraft Heinz and Starbucks. Keystone-SDA

Swiss multinational Nestlé is abandoning an international alliance to reduce methane emissions in the dairy industry, an entity that the company had helped to found only two years ago.

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Nestlé regularly reviews its membership of external organisations and, as part of this process, has decided to end its participation in the alliance, a company spokesperson told the AWP news agency, confirming a report by Reuters.

The alliance, founded in December 2023 by the US environmental organisation Environmental Defense Fund, brings together companies such as Danone, Kraft Heinz and Starbucks. Members pledge to measure, disclose and reduce methane emissions from their dairy supply chains. As is well known in this sector, methane is mainly produced by digestion in cows as well as the storage of manure and slurry.

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However, Nestlé emphasises that it remains determined to achieve its climate targets. The company says it is striving to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, including methane, along its entire supply chain.

Nestlé’s decision is reminiscent of another recent one by Swiss bank UBS, in a different business sector, but with a general orientation that appears similar: in August, the mega bank led by Sergio Ermotti and with a large presence in the United States, made it known that it is withdrawing from the Net-Zero Banking Alliance (NZBA). This global initiative, launched in April 2021 and is promoted by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), brings together numerous banks committed to reducing to zero, by 2050, greenhouse gas emissions related to their operations and financial activities, in line with the 2015 Paris Agreement.

Translated from Italian with DeepL/gw

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