HP, Procter & Gamble, Nespresso join ‘Climate Pledge’ to cut emissions

Computer maker HP, coffee giant Nespresso and consumer goods conglomerate Procter & Gamble are among the latest companies to join a global corporate pledge to achieve net zero emissions by 2040.

The Associated Press, which highlighted the new members of the The Climate Pledge, noted that companies will also be asked to fund measures to mitigate any emissions created by their operations.

Spearheaded by Amazon, The Climate Pledge invites leading companies and businesses to reduce their emissions along with major nations. It has 201 signatories, with other recent additions including software companies VMware and Salesforce and ASOS clothing retailers.

The pledge follows the guidelines set forth in the multinational Paris climate agreement, which asks member countries to reduce emissions to avoid a 1.5 degrees Celsius increase in global average temperature. 

HP and Procter & Gamble both signed on at the end of August. Nespresso announced its commitment on Sept. 17.

“Climate change is a reality and our future depends on going further and faster on our sustainability commitments,” said Guillaume Le Cunff, the CEO of Nespresso, in the company’s press release. “That is why we are accelerating our commitments to offer our consumers a way to drink a carbon neutral cup of coffee by 2022.”

The carbon-offsetting initiatives Nespresso will adopt include planting trees around its coffee farms and investing in renewable energy.

Large companies have been pressured to curtail their carbon emissions as increasing evidence suggests the world will not meet the climate goals outlined in the Paris climate agreement and that even those goals are not ambitious enough to avoid drastic consequences from global warming. 

This past weekend, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told The Associated Press that world leaders must do more to combat climate change.  

“I’m not desperate, but I’m tremendously worried,” he said in an interview. “We are on the verge of the abyss and we cannot afford a step in the wrong direction.”