USA – Nestlé-owned global network of cafes in the US and Asia, Blue Bottle Coffee has pledged to help scale regenerative agriculture as part of its 2024 carbon neutrality target. 

Additionally, the coffee chain has promised to carry out fundamental changes to its business operations and partnerships with suppliers so as to reduce its GHG emissions as much as possible.  

Where it’s unable to reduce emissions, Blue Bottle has made a multi-year commitment to purchase the first available high-quality, registry-certified agricultural carbon credits. 

Produced by Carbon by Indigo, these credits support US farmers transitioning toward more beneficial agriculture from conventional practices. 

Blue Bottle bolstering its environmental targets represents a significant next step towards the brand’s long-term sustainability goals and reducing GHG emissions. 

To assist in integrating climate targets into its work with coffee suppliers the company recently completed its first round of sustainability audits across most of its coffee purchasing.  

Blue Bottle has also reduced GHG emissions associated with its electricity usage first in the US and Japan by purchasing renewable energy certificates for a portion of cafes and one production site. 

The coffee chain has also pioneered the introduction of oat milk in its Asia markets, having long offered oat milk at no extra charge in US cafes. 

 In June 2021, test cafes in Northern and Southern California markets invoked oat milk as the default in milk-based drinks for in-cafe and mobile orders, resulting in 8% less cow’s milk use in these cafes. 

Blue Bottle says it is on track to achieve zero waste operations for half its US cafes by the end of 2021. The goal is to reach all US cafes by 2023.  

According to the company, a Zero-to-waste policy will help  divert 90% of its waste from landfills, incineration, or the environment.  

Blue Bottle’s Jackson Square cafe opened this spring with zero-waste operations, reaching a 98% diversion rate in its first month. 

In 2022, Blue Bottle plans to scale zero-waste operations to its US production sites and begin implementation in Asia. 

Earlier this year, KitKat- another Nestlé brand- pledged to become carbon neutral by 2025. KitKat aims to reduce the emissions generated through the sourcing of its ingredients, the manufacturing of the product and its distribution by more than 50% as part of the plan. 

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