LAHORE— Nestlé Pakistan has become a member of United Nations-backed Race to Zero, a global campaign that aims to rally leadership and support from a whole-of-society actors in order to ensure a resilient zero carbon recovery that unlocks inclusive, sustainable growth.
By taking the Race to Zero pledge, members commit to halving global emissions by 2030 and achieving net zero emissions by 2050. Nestlé recognizes that Climate Change is the society’s greatest challenges. It has already started to impact people around the world in various ways; long-term changes in weather and crop patterns, hotter temperatures and increased droughts which can lead to more poverty, shortage of food and more health risks.
Waqar Ahmad, the Head of Corporate Affairs and Sustainability at Nestlé Pakistan said, “Pakistan is among the countries most vulnerable to effects of Climate Change. Nestlé Pakistan is demonstrating our commitment to climate action at a time when there’s a great urgency to act. We want to use our scale and reach to help tackle climate change, transform our business and use our resources to inspire change. Our 2025 Roadmap, which builds on the work already undertaken by us, will get to 20% carbon emissions reduction by 2025 against a 2018 baseline. We are aiming to reach 50% emission reduction by 2030 and achieve net zero by 2050 at the latest, even as our business grows.”
“Nestlé Pakistan will be taking action across agriculture value chain and our operations. The major interventions will be to reduce emissions in our milk value chain, promote reforestation, switch to 100% renewable energy and work with farmers to shift to regenerative ways of growing food,”
Mr. Ahmad said. Regenerative agriculture is the first step that Nestlé Pakistan is taking on its journey toward regeneration; to help protect, renew and restore the environment, improve the livelihoods of farmers and enhance the resilience and well-being of communities and our consumers.
Mike Nithavrianakis, British Deputy High Commissioner Karachi & Trade Director for Pakistan, said, “We are pleased that Nestlé is joining hands for the Race to Zero pledge committing to halving emissions by 2030 and hitting net zero by 2050. As one of the largest food and beverage companies in Pakistan, we hope Nestlé’s pledge will motivate others to take steps to sign up and commit to significantly reducing carbon emissions. We are delighted that more than 26 corporate firms in Pakistan have committed to Race to Zero under our ’26 for COP26’ target, as well as many foreign multinationals and subsidiaries with interests in Pakistan. We anticipate many more signing up in the days ahead.”