Nestlé Gets On the Reporting Bandwagon: How Did They Do?
source: http://gerber.com
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The road to sustainable business now passes through a glass tunnel called “Transparency.” Consumers exercise their singular, unequivocal influence: their ability to choose the company that not only creates, markets and sells a product that is to their liking, but does so in a manner that is consistent with their values. And here, in this land of “innocent until proven guilty,” companies know that if they don’t “take the tunnel,” it will be assumed that they have something to hide. This, in turn, leads to action which ensures that there is some good news to report. Thus we progress, however slowly, towards a more sustainable society.
Last week, Nestlé in the United States, parent company to Nestlé USA, Nestlé Purina PetCare Company, Nestlé Waters North America, Nestlé Nutrition and Nestlé Professional, reported for the first time, their environmental metrics for the preceding year. Greenhouse gas emissions were flat in absolute terms, though given an increase in production volume this represents a six percent reduction in GHG emissions per unit of product, compared to the previous year. This translates into a rate of 35.4 kg of CO2 per ton of product. There are no comparable metrics available for a company as diverse as this one, involved in essentially light industry, except its own prior performance. Heavy industries, like cement or steel might emit something on the order of 70 times this amount per unit of production.
The conglomerate’s water usage rose by 2.1 percent in absolute terms, though, once again, thanks to increased production, there was a 2% reduction on a per unit of output.
The company’s bottled water subsidiary, Nestlé Waters North America, whose sustainability chief, Michael Washburn, I interviewed in a three-part series back in March, had a slightly more impressive 2.2% reduction (over the past five years) in the face of a 27% production volume increase.
If this doesn’t convince you that the company is at least trying to clean up their act, maybe you should check out Nestle Nutrition’s gerber.com where they give, among other things, breastfeeding tips (though there are still those boycotting the company because of it’s predatory advertising tactics for baby formula).
Post Continues: http://www.triplepundit.com/2011/05/nestle-csr-reporting/
Last week, Nestlé in the United States, parent company to Nestlé USA, Nestlé Purina PetCare Company, Nestlé Waters North America, Nestlé Nutrition and Nestlé Professional, reported for the first time, their environmental metrics for the preceding year. Greenhouse gas emissions were flat in absolute terms, though given an increase in production volume this represents a six percent reduction in GHG emissions per unit of product, compared to the previous year. This translates into a rate of 35.4 kg of CO2 per ton of product. There are no comparable metrics available for a company as diverse as this one, involved in essentially light industry, except its own prior performance. Heavy industries, like cement or steel might emit something on the order of 70 times this amount per unit of production.
The conglomerate’s water usage rose by 2.1 percent in absolute terms, though, once again, thanks to increased production, there was a 2% reduction on a per unit of output.
The company’s bottled water subsidiary, Nestlé Waters North America, whose sustainability chief, Michael Washburn, I interviewed in a three-part series back in March, had a slightly more impressive 2.2% reduction (over the past five years) in the face of a 27% production volume increase.
If this doesn’t convince you that the company is at least trying to clean up their act, maybe you should check out Nestle Nutrition’s gerber.com where they give, among other things, breastfeeding tips (though there are still those boycotting the company because of it’s predatory advertising tactics for baby formula).
Post Continues: http://www.triplepundit.com/2011/05/nestle-csr-reporting/
