Nestlé Pakistan to plant 50,000 trees

Inks agreement with climate change ministry

As part of Prime Minister Imran Khan’s ‘Clean and Green Pakistan’ initiative, Nestlé Pakistan has committed to planting 50,000 trees across its operational areas in Pakistan.

In a statement issued by Nestlé Pakistan on Wednesday, a memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed between Nestlé Pakistan and the Ministry of Climate Change last week whereby, the former will focus on the key pillars of sanitation and hygiene, kicking-off tree plantation drive and providing access to clean drinking water for communities.

“Nestlé Pakistan, as part of its global and local commitments, is striving towards zero environmental impact of our operations,” said Nestlé Pakistan Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Freda Duplan.

“We appreciate the advisor’s (Advisor to Prime Minister on Climate Change Malik Amin Aslam) and Prime Minister’s [Imran Khan] efforts towards a Clean Green Pakistan.”



She added that they were starting their journey for 2019 with the first cleaning and tree plantation activity under Nestlé’s Employee Volunteer Programme.

This initiative will be followed by additional cleaning and tree plantation drives across the company’s operational areas in Pakistan under which 50,000 will be planted in partnership with the ‘Clean and Green Pakistan’ initiative.

“This initiative is completely aligned with Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) including Clean Water and Sanitation, and Life on Land,” Duplan said. Aslam said that ‘Clean Green Pakistan’ is a behavioural change movement which involves rethinking our relationship with nature “by caring and protecting for this natural resource.”

He hoped that other industries will follow Nestlé’s initiative of planting trees and cleaning the environment.

“We must conserve our natural resources and companies like Nestlé must play a leadership role in this regard,” said WWF Pakistan CEO Hammad Naqi.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 7^th, 2019.