Consumers want to know ‘we are treating the planet well’, says Nestlé CEO

Mark Schneider, CEO of Nestlé, believes there is “a good business case emerging” for sustainability, which is what the Swiss food and drink company is pursuing amid year-on-year business growth in 2020 and Q1 of 2021.

In an interview with CNBC, he said that “Today’s consumer asks even more than before for sustainability. They want to know that we are treating the planet well, they want to know we’re taking care of the next generation.”

Nestlé, whose range of brands – from cereals to coffee, chocolate and dairy – include Nescafe, KitKat and Cheerios – has pledged through its sustainability strategy to reduce carbon emissions within its business and supply chains, eliminating its carbon footprint altogether by 2050.

“The younger, the better educated and the wealthier consumer, the more interested they are in environmentally sound products and practices,” the CEO said.

“Digital these days means that there’s total transparency about your supply chain, so people do understand what you’re doing for the planet and they reward the companies that are leading this trend.”

Over the next decade, Nestlé, which operates in 187 countries, pledges it will run on renewable electricity by 2025, end its dependency on deforestation by 2022, and plant 20 million trees every year for the next 10 years.