Nestlé has launched a new partnership with the International Labour Organization (ILO) aimed at strengthening labour rights and fair recruitment practices across key coffee supply chains in Latin America.
The two-year initiative will focus on Brazil, Colombia and Mexico, three major sourcing countries in Nestlé’s coffee network.
According to the company, the project will support country-level interventions designed to improve labour conditions and working practices in coffee supply chains. Nestlé also said that the lessons generated through the programme will help inform wider knowledge-sharing across the global coffee sector.
The ILO, a United Nations agency focused on social justice, labour rights and fair work standards, said it will act as a facilitator in the initiative. Its role will centre on creating dialogue between governments, employers’ organisations and worker representatives to better understand the main drivers of labour-related risks and gaps in decent work standards across coffee supply chains.
Nestlé said those insights will then help shape the interventions implemented in each country.
Dan Rees, director of the ILO’s Priority Action Programme on Decent Work in Supply Chains, said the organisation hopes the programme will promote decent work and contribute to more sustainable supply chains overall. He noted that coffee production supports the livelihoods of around 20 to 25 million families worldwide, but that decent work deficits remain a serious concern, particularly for seasonal and migrant workers.
Nestlé linked the new initiative to its broader Nescafé Plan 2030, the brand’s global sustainability programme. Updated in 2022, the plan is intended to help farmers transition towards more sustainable agricultural practices that improve productivity, reduce costs and lower greenhouse gas emissions associated with coffee production.
The company said that in 2024, Nescafé sourced 32% of its coffee from farmers using regenerative agriculture practices, exceeding its 2025 target of 20%.
Beyond agriculture, the Nescafé Plan also includes social objectives related to farmer livelihoods and community wellbeing, including work on human rights and child protection across the company’s supply chains.
The announcement comes against a more critical backdrop for the food and beverage sector. A recent benchmark published by the Business and Human Rights Centre, which assessed 45 of the world’s largest food and beverage companies on efforts to prevent and address forced labour risks linked to climate change, found that most major companies are still underperforming. Only two companies scored above 50 out of 100, while Nestlé scored below 40, alongside Smucker’s, Mondelēz International and most others in the ranking.
That context adds further weight to the new partnership, which will now be closely watched as Nestlé seeks to translate high-level commitments into concrete progress on the ground.
