(Monday 28th April) Today, reacting to Nestlé’s commitment to industry best practice in reporting around the healthiness of its sales using a government-backed method, Garance Boullenger, Healthy Markets Initiative Lead at ShareAction said:
"We welcome Nestlé's decision to improve transparency on how many healthy product sales they are making following close engagement with investors on the issue.
"It sends a powerful message that the biggest food company in the world is setting a high standard for the industry on health and nutrition reporting, whilst other companies such as Coca-Cola, PepsiCo and Mondelez are dragging their feet on taking responsibility for their role in the global health crisis.
"As the world's largest food and drink maker, Nestlé has an enormous influence on billions of people's diets, and by extension the power to make a real difference to consumers' lives and help shape healthier societies and economies overall.
"What investors want now is to see Nestlé set an ambitious target to sell more healthier food. With a tangible commitment in place, the food giant could reassure its investors that it is working to adapt its business away from its current risky over-reliance on unhealthy products."
Notes to editors
While previously claiming to use the government-backed Health Star Rating (HSR) methodology to report on the healthiness of it sales, Nestle was not correctly following the HSR guidance on what products should be excluded. It erroneously included certain coffee products, distorting and inflating its score in its reporting for investors and made it incomparable with peers. The company will continue to report separately on its specialized nutrition, pet care, and pure coffee product ranges, but it will also provide a breakdown of the healthiness of its remaining sales, in line with ATNi guidelines.
In April 2024, a coalition of Nestlé shareholders, coordinated by ShareAction, the responsible investment NGO, filed a resolution challenging Nestlé to dramatically improve its impact on people’s health.
The resolution was co-filed by five institutional investors with $1.68tn (£1.35tn) in assets under management, including Legal & General Investment Management, and was supported by 11% of its shareholders.
ShareAction’s Healthy Markets team works with investors to urge the food industry to lead the drive for healthier food options for all. Our coalition calls on food and drink companies to report transparently around the healthiness of their portfolios as well as to set ambitious targets to reduce overreliance on sales of high fat, sugar and salt products.
