Nineteen forward-thinking, agriculture-centric companies, together with the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), launched a new initiative to protect and restore biodiversity within their supply chains and product portfolios. This coalition – named “One Planet Business for Biodiversity” (OP2B) – was formally launched at the United Nations Climate Action Summit by Emmanuel Faber, Chairman and CEO of global food and beverage company Danone.
In addition to Danone, OP2B members include Barry Callebaut, Google, Jacobs Douwe Egberts, Kellogg Company, L’Oreal, Mars, Migros Ticaret, McCain Foods, Nestlé, Unilever and Yara. The 19 companies sell products in more than 120 countries and have combined total revenues of about US$500 billion.
Nestlé says it has joined the coalition to take bold actions in protecting and restoring biodiversity. Nestlé and other member companies share strategic interests in agriculture and recognize the urgency to drive transformational change in the food and agriculture systems, for the benefit of the people and the planet.
Over the past decades, the agricultural system focused on efficiency and productivity to meet the needs of the world growing population. This affects loss of diversity on farms, loss of ingredient diversity in diets, and degradation of ecosystems.
Mark Schneider, Nestlé CEO, said: “Nestlé believes that protecting and restoring biodiversity is essential to safeguard food production and food security now and for the future. Nestlé has for many years worked with farmers to manage their land sustainably and will continue to lead activities enhancing biodiversity”.
Restoring and protecting ecosystems
To achieve its goal, the OP2B initiative has identified three focus areas: scaling up regenerative agriculture practices to protect soil health; using product portfolios to boost cultivated biodiversity and increase the resilience of the food and agriculture systems; eliminating deforestation, enhancing the management, restoration and protection of high value ecosystems.
Nestlé has intensified its activities with farmers to ensure the responsible sourcing of its raw materials and it has made significant progress towards its zero deforestation goals. As Nestlé accelerates its climate change efforts, the company will scale up initiatives in agriculture to transform its value chains through land restoration, replanting trees and enhancing biodiversity.
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