Report: Nestle to Plant 3 Million Trees to Offset Emissions

Reuters reported Wednesday that Nestle SA has vowed to plant 3 million trees in Mexico and Brazil to help offset the company’s carbon emissions.

Executives told Reuters that the Swiss food giant is launching a reforestation project that will plant the trees over the next year and a half as part of the company’s goal to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.

The report states that Nestle’s project will cost between $1 and $15 per tree, which means the first phase of the reforestation could cost up to $45 million in planting.

Nestle Americas CEO Laurent Freixe told Reuters that the project would be a starting point for further environmental sustainability efforts in places like Mexico, where the company sources ingredients for coffee, cocoa, sugar and dairy products.

Reuters said the company is working with non-profit One Tree Planted to identify which trees to plant and locations for them and that Mexico’s southeast states are among the options.

“If we want to sustain the economy in this country, if we want to sustain our business in this country, we need to invest in the environment and sustainability, and enhance the biodiversity of the country,” Freixe told Reuters.

Nestle’s head of operations said the carbon captured by the first million trees planted would eventually be enough to offset the emissions of a coffee-processing plant the company expects to start operating in October this year.