Nespresso press release digital image.
Nestlé-owned coffee giant Nespresso said it will be the first coffee brand to bring a Rainforest Alliance Regenerative certified coffee to market.
According to a Sept. 24 company announcement, the certification seal will begin appearing on select Nespresso products in 2026. The lots identified for certification hail from a coffee farm owned by Yamileth Chacón in Costa Rica, plus other forthcoming lots from Costa Rica and Mexico.
The announcement follows Rainforest Alliance’s Sept. 8 rollout of the regenerative standard for coffee — framed by the third-party certifier as a way to promote outcomes such as soil health, biodiversity and climate resilience while aligning with emerging corporate sustainability directives.
With the RA Regenerative scheme, current RA certificate holders can add 17 regenerative requirements to their existing Sustainable Agriculture Standard certification. Alternatively, they can pursue regenerative certification as a standalone option, combining those 17 criteria with 102 other baseline requirements.
Nespresso framed the move as part of long-running sustainability efforts in its supply chain, including its in-house AAA sustainability scheme, which was created 20 years ago through a collaboration with RA.
Jérôme Perez, Nespresso’s head of sustainability, said the company hopes the consumer-facing seal will encourage other brands to support a “wide-scale regenerative transition” among coffee growers.
While “regenerative” has become a buzzword across food and agriculture, the Rainforest Alliance’s move formalizes a set of audited requirements and outcome metrics in coffee. Yet it is not the first organization to do so. A group called the Regenerative Organic Alliance, created in 2017, announced in 2022 that the first coffees through its regenerative certification program reached the U.S. market, including bags from specialty coffee companies Groundwork Coffee and Heirloom Coffee Roasters.
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