Nestlé sustainability score: 37/100
Nestlé is a Swiss food and drink company headquartered in Vevey. Beverages, mainly coffee, are 28% of its sales, pet food 21%, nutrition 16%, prepared dishes 11%, milk products and ice cream 11%, confectionery 10% and water 4%.
More about Nestlé
It has factories in 75 countries and sells in 185. It had about 271,000 employees and CHF 89.5 billion sales in 2025.
Head office Vevey, SwitzerlandStaff ~271,000 (2025)Revenue ~CHF 89.5B sales (FY2025)Website ↗
Nestlé's footprint was 77.8 MtCO2e in 2025. Within its net-zero target scope, gross emissions are 20.7% below 2018; its headline 24.5% cut also counts 3.3 Mt of removals on supplier farms, and 8.8 Mt of value-chain emissions sit outside the target. 98.6% of its electricity is renewable, partly through certificates, but only 41% of its factory energy. Nestlé Waters paid a €2 million French settlement in 2024 over illegal drilling and water treatments, and its plastic use and recycling claims draw continuing criticism.
Nestlé scores 37/100 (Below expectations) on SINK's independent climate assessment, scored from public data only. Scores are free. Companies can never pay for anything about their own score. Last verified October 2026.
That places Nestlé joint 482nd of 934 companies scored, and joint 36th of 51 in Food & Beverage (non-meat).
What is Nestlé doing well, and where does it fall short?
Strongest on Carbon Footprint: Operations and Carbon Footprint: Supply Chain (8/10, 8/10). Weakest on Resource Use & Waste and Water Impact (5/10, 5/10).
Where Nestlé lost points
For each question that lost points, the evidence our public rubric looks for that we didn't find.
- Emissions from its own operations8/10No verified figures published with their method and a falling trend.
- Emissions from its supply chain8/10Its Scope 3 emissions aren't fully verified or falling year on year.
- Whether its emissions are falling7/10No consistent fall over several years across its operations and supply chain.
- How clean its energy is6/10Less than 90% of its energy shown to be renewable.
- Its effect on nature6/10No verified restoration beyond its own footprint, or supply chain not mapped for nature risk.
- How it uses materials and handles waste5/10No measurable waste or recycling targets reported publicly.
- Its effect on water5/10No measured water footprint with reduction targets.
- Its climate targets8/10No validated long-term net zero target.
- How openly it reports8/10No mission-locked structure, such as B Corp certification.
- Its record on controversies5/10Points deducted for controversies or its business model. The finding is under question 10.
A score changes when the evidence does. We use new published evidence at the next rescore. Anyone can send us new evidence, free. How to send it.
How is Nestlé's SINK score calculated?
Same ten questions for every company. No private weighting.
SINK = (0.3 × Base + 0.7 × Performance) × ScaleHas Nestlé's score changed?
Nestlé's score has moved from 35 to 37 across 2 recorded reviews, up 2 points.
- 35 → 37+229 October 2026
Re-scored under the current methodology (v2.5); owner ruling 2026-10-29. Sector corrected "Food & Beverage (meat/dairy)" (base 30) → "Food & Beverage (non-meat)" (base 50), sourced from OWNER_RULING Owner ruling 2026-10-29: Food & Beverage (non-meat). Sales 2025 (CHF m): Powdered and Liquid Beverages 25,144; PetCare 18,406; Nutrition and Health Science 14,304; Prepared dishes and cooking aids 10,114; Milk products and Ice cream 9,698; Confectionery 8,696; Water 3,128; total 89,490. Dairy is 10.8%; even counting all PetCare and Nutrition as animal-based it is 47.4%, under half. The sector comes from revenue, not emissions. Financial Statements 2025, note 3.2, PDF p.24.. History gap: the last recorded row is 35 (2026-02-08, initial_score), but the live score before this change was 30 (previousScore 35). The intermediate change(s) were not recorded at the time and are not reconstructed here.
- Scored 358 February 2026
Initial score at platform launch
What evidence is Nestlé's score based on?
11 sources used in this assessment. All publicly available. Each row shows which of the ten questions it informed.
18% of them were published by Nestlé itself; the rest come from independent sources.
Nestlé's footprint (77.8 MtCO2e in 2025) is its own stated figure, from page 51 of its Non-Financial Statement 2025. It includes 8.8 MtCO2e of value-chain emissions that Nestlé calculates but leaves outside its net-zero target. It sets the size deduction.
“We engaged Ernst & Young Ltd (EY) to provide independent”
“17.0% reduction in Scope 1, 2 & 3 energy/industry emissions”
“98.6% renewable electricity in”
“followed by PepsiCo (5%), Nestlé (3%), Danone (3%)”
“while Nestlé and Danone’s products each made up 3%”
“regarding illegal water drilling and unauthorised treatments for its mineral waters”
“agreed to pay a €2 million fine to avoid legal action”
“found itself engaged in litigation with ClientEarth”
“suspected widespread infringement of consumer protection law”
“published a comprehensive review of its industry associations memberships”
“The criticism focuses on prohibited disinfection systems in mineral water production.”
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How does Nestlé compare with other food & beverage (non-meat) companies?
Where Nestlé sits among food & beverage (non-meat) peers.
Among the 51 major food & beverage (non-meat) brands we've scored, Nestlé is tied =36th of 51, with 2 others.
Who scores higher in Food & Beverage (non-meat)?
The 3 companies in the sector scoring nearest above Nestlé.
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See the breakdown →Minor Figures claims carbon neutrality since 2018 but publishes no emissions data, Scope 3 figures, or absolute reduction targets—relying entirely on offsets without transparency.
See the breakdown →Which companies moved this week, and why.
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