Nespresso is one of the latest brands to join the Amazon-organized ‘Climate Pledge’ movement, aiming to reduce their carbon emissions to net zero by 2040. HP, Procter and Gamble, Salesforce and ASOS are also recent additions to the companies looking to eliminate their carbon footprint within the next 20 years.
This isn’t Nespresso’s first stab at reducing its contributions to climate change. Back in 2020, the brand pledged that every cup of Nespresso coffee would be carbon neutral by the year 2022. With that deadline fast approaching, though the brand has taken things one step further with its latest commitment.
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While a carbon neutral process is certainly an excellent step in the right direction, actually cutting those emissions straight down to zero is the ultimate goal. Nespresso previously looked to achieve a carbon neutral position by compensating for its own spent emissions with reforestation and by supporting conservation projects.
Since then, parent company Nestlé has set a similar goal, pledging to reach net zero by 2050. That’s no mean feat - the company itself has stated that in the year 2018, it contributed 92 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions. Nestlé's steps forward include the sustainable sourcing of ingredients, making transport more efficient, developing new low-carbon products, and employing renewable energy in the manufacturing stages.
Nespresso will benefit from all of these future plans, and is already making headway with increasingly power-efficient coffee makers and the new Aluminium Stewardship Initiative. The brand is a founding member of the initiative, which works to set a new global standard for responsible aluminium sourcing and use, implementing a closed loop production process that capitalizes on the endlessly recyclable nature of Nespresso machine pods.
Nespresso has its work cut out for it, especially considering the pod-nature of its best-selling systems. However, with parent brand Nestlé spearheading the approach, the roadmap is in place for a much cleaner future.
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