#LIFESTYLE: Nespresso launches campaign with George Clooney on climate change

Coffee brand Nespresso has teamed up with George Clooney in a new campaign called The Empty Cup, to bring consumer attention to climate change and how it affects coffee growers and coffee production.

In the video, Clooney holds an empty coffee cup as a symbol of the risk facing many coffee growers around the world, of which over 140,000 work directly with Nespresso. The caption says: It's time to think outside the cup, to protect what's inside it.

The campaign marks the first time that Clooney, long-term brand ambassador of Nespresso, is pictured holding an empty cup in place of his trademark Nespresso coffee.

Clooney says the threat of climate change is real and coffee farmers are on the front line.

"It is vital that we empower these communities to build financial and environmental resilience, so that they not only survive but thrive and prosper. This is about more than coffee. Climate change is not something that a single company or even an entire industry can fix. It requires urgent, bold action on a global scale. The stakes are high," he says.

George Clooney fronts The Empty Cup campaign, to bring attention to climate change.
George Clooney fronts The Empty Cup campaign, to bring attention to climate change.

Currently, the company says 60 per cent of wild coffee species are endangered and 50 per cent of the land used to grow coffee today could be unviable by 2050. Fine-grade Arabica is particularly vulnerable to weather shocks.

Launched in 2003 in collaboration with Rainforest Alliance, the Nespresso AAA Sustainable Quality Programme helps to improve the yield and quality of harvests while protecting the environment and improving the livelihoods of farmers and their communities.

Nespresso CEO Guillaume Le Cunff says everyone must act to protect coffee and coffee communities against climate change.

"This has been the basis of our approach for 20 years, and now we are going even further. Regenerative agriculture has the potential to make farming part of the solution to the climate crisis. It is an approach which does not just take from the land, but actually heals nature and restores balance. I am proud that we are pioneering this transition, but we need to do more. We are calling on entities – both private and public – to take action that will make a tangible difference."

The impact of climate change is felt acutely in Puerto Rico where five years ago, hurricanes devastated coffee production, wiping out 80 per cent of the island's crop. Thanks to the efforts of a multi-stakeholder programme, including Nespresso, this year's harvest is projected to return to pre-hurricane levels, for the first time.

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