Nestle SA has abandoned pledges to make major brands, including KitKat and Perrier, carbon neutral, joining a nascent corporate pushback against programs that let polluters compensate for their own greenhouse gas emissions by investing in efforts to reduce them elsewhere.
The world’s biggest food company joins airline EasyJet PLC and Gucci owner Kering SA in backing away from so-called carbon offsetting as a way to meet net zero emissions targets.
Consumer groups have said the practice is misleading for shoppers and does not always mean emissions are falling.
Photo: Reuters
Nestle is shifting toward in-house programs to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in its operations and supply chain, a spokesperson said.
The Swiss food company also dropped plans to make plant-based meal lines Sweet Earth Foods and Garden Gourmet carbon neutral.
Carbon-offset programs do not really reduce businesses’ impact on the climate, critics say, even though the label does have appeal for well-meaning consumers.
“If you’re a consumer in the supermarket, you have no way to know how much of a carbon neutral claim is from actual emissions reductions and how much is from these dubious carbon-offsetting projects,” said Emma Calvert, a food policy officer at European consumer rights organization BEUC, which wants to ban “carbon neutral” claims on food.
Multinationals are under pressure to help prevent the planet from heating up more than 1.5oC.
The net-zero standard requires companies to set long-term science-based targets to cut all possible emissions before 2050.
While Nestle is abandoning carbon offsets, it still aims to achieve net zero in 2050, planning to reach that through measures often known as “insets.” That includes actions like helping farmers shift to regenerative agriculture, restoring wetlands, protecting habitats for pollinators and planting hedgerows to prevent soil erosion.
However, insets are also problematic. It is hard to check the methodologies that companies use and there are no global verification standards, the NewClimate Institute said.
Those measures could give consumers a false impression of a company’s impact on climate, the group said.
Carbon neutrality claims can play well with consumers as they can assume it means fewer greenhouse gas emissions. A study conducted by a German consumer organization concluded that carbon neutrality claims improve a product’s image even when there is no guarantee that an environmental benefit actually exists.
Greenwashing claims can backfire for companies, too. Danone SA is the target of a US lawsuit over the carbon neutral label on its Evian waters. A Swedish court fined and banned European dairy group Arla Foods from using the term “net zero climate footprint” in the marketing of its products sold in the country. Nestle is facing a legal challenge from a French consumer group over its claim that Nespresso is carbon neutral.
Despite the change in approach, some of Nestle’s brands are still touting their carbon neutral successes. The Web site of vitamin business Garden of Life says it reached that status six months ahead of schedule in 2021.
‘SWASTICAR’: Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s close association with Donald Trump has prompted opponents to brand him a ‘Nazi’ and resulted in a dramatic drop in sales Demonstrators descended on Tesla Inc dealerships across the US, and in Europe and Canada on Saturday to protest company chief Elon Musk, who has amassed extraordinary power as a top adviser to US President Donald Trump. Waving signs with messages such as “Musk is stealing our money” and “Reclaim our country,” the protests largely took place peacefully following fiery episodes of vandalism on Tesla vehicles, dealerships and other facilities in recent weeks that US officials have denounced as terrorism. Hundreds rallied on Saturday outside the Tesla dealership in Manhattan. Some blasted Musk, the world’s richest man, while others demanded the shuttering of his
TIGHT-LIPPED: UMC said it had no merger plans at the moment, after Nikkei Asia reported that the firm and GlobalFoundries were considering restarting merger talks United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電), the world’s No. 4 contract chipmaker, yesterday launched a new US$5 billion 12-inch chip factory in Singapore as part of its latest effort to diversify its manufacturing footprint amid growing geopolitical risks. The new factory, adjacent to UMC’s existing Singapore fab in the Pasir Res Wafer Fab Park, is scheduled to enter volume production next year, utilizing mature 22-nanometer and 28-nanometer process technologies, UMC said in a statement. The company plans to invest US$5 billion during the first phase of the new fab, which would have an installed capacity of 30,000 12-inch wafers per month, it said. The
Taiwan’s official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) last month rose 0.2 percentage points to 54.2, in a second consecutive month of expansion, thanks to front-loading demand intended to avoid potential US tariff hikes, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. While short-term demand appeared robust, uncertainties rose due to US President Donald Trump’s unpredictable trade policy, CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) told a news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s economy this year would be characterized by high-level fluctuations and the volatility would be wilder than most expect, Lien said Demand for electronics, particularly semiconductors, continues to benefit from US technology giants’ effort
MULTIFACETED: A task force has analyzed possible scenarios and created responses to assist domestic industries in dealing with US tariffs, the economics minister said The Executive Yuan is tomorrow to announce countermeasures to US President Donald Trump’s planned reciprocal tariffs, although the details of the plan would not be made public until Monday next week, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. The Cabinet established an economic and trade task force in November last year to deal with US trade and tariff related issues, Kuo told reporters outside the legislature in Taipei. The task force has been analyzing and evaluating all kinds of scenarios to identify suitable responses and determine how best to assist domestic industries in managing the effects of Trump’s tariffs, he