Nespresso is preparing for a new sustainability strategy post-2020 positive cup agenda and “regenerative agriculture” has demonstrated great potential to be the backbone of the strategic framing.

Nespresso is now looking for insights / learnings from existing Regenerative Coffee Agriculture experiences to build business cases and drive the implementation of success factors in the various sourcing region.

Background & context

Nespresso has been involved into Sustainable Agriculture since 2003 with the development and implementation of the Nespresso AAA Sustainable Quality coffee program in the company’s sourcing regions. To achieve this, the company has collaborated with the Rainforest Alliance and the Sustainable Agriculture Network. The program has been designed around 3 critical principles: Continuous improvement, farmer relationship, premium/incentives.

The X mioCHF invested in the program over the period 2003-2020 have resulted into the following achievements: 95% traceability of the coffee volume, 56% of certified volume and 4.5 million trees planting in and around coffee farms. In addition, specific interventions and innovations such the retirement savings plan &crop insurance for farmers in Colombia, landscape-level actions towards watershed management, bird monitoring, bee pollination services are providing additional learnings to be scaled.

As Nespresso enters the “decisive decade”, the program is evolving to deliver the benefits of a Regenerative Agriculture. Currently defined as a profitable coffee agriculture based on Nature and addressing the challenges of Climate Change, Biodiversity loss and Living Income, Nespresso is looking for insights/learnings from existing Regenerative Coffee Agriculture experiences to build business cases and drive the implementation of success factors in the various sourcing regions.

By business case, Nespresso understands a methodological document, evaluating the costs/benefits (economic, social and environmental) and risks associated with the coffee farms transitioning or applying Regenerative Agriculture practices. The final deliverable is expected to provide insights on up to 5 cases reflecting the status of selected farm archetypes.

reNature will support Nespresso to define key regenerative agriculture practices applicable to the coffee sector and set up an analytical framework to assess the costs / benefits (economic, social and environmental) and risks associated with the coffee farms transitioning or adhering to such practices.