Nexture has published its first group sustainability report, establishing a common framework for decarbonisation, responsible sourcing and ingredient innovation. The food ingredients business is seeking to embed sustainability across its operations and supply chains.

Nexture has published its first Sustainability Report, bringing together the 2025 environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance of CSM Ingredients, HIFOOD, Italcanditi, Comprital and Prodotti Rubicone under a single group-wide framework.

Published on 7 October 2026, the report establishes a baseline against which the group intends to measure future progress and integrate sustainability more consistently into its strategy, operations and decision-making.

The move reflects the challenge of aligning sustainability priorities across a business operating in multiple food ingredient categories, from bakery and confectionery to dairy alternatives, beverages and plant-based products.

“This report builds on years of commitment by CSM Ingredients and Italcanditi, now brought together under one Group framework,” said Gabriele Del Torchio, chairman of Nexture. “I am proud of what our teams have achieved so far, and confident that a shared approach will help us go even further, creating lasting value for all our stakeholders.”

Four pillars establish common priorities

Nexture’s sustainability strategy is built around four interconnected pillars: People, Planet, Product and Governance. Together, these provide a structure for managing environmental and social responsibilities, supply-chain risks and product development across its businesses.

In 2025, the group established a common sustainability governance framework, including a new Sustainability Committee. It also integrated ESG due diligence into supplier onboarding, with the aim of extending ESG assessments to all new suppliers and expanding Sedex monitoring across its businesses.

Responsible sourcing is another priority. During 2025, 74% of the group’s cocoa was Rainforest Alliance certified and 67% of its palm oil was RSPO certified. Nexture has committed to sourcing 100% of its palm oil and derivatives from verified sustainable origins by 2030.

The report also highlights agricultural supply-chain initiatives. Italcanditi purchased approximately 20,000 tonnes of beet sugar in 2025, with its Goes manufacturing site in the Netherlands sourcing all its sugar from Royal Cosun, an agricultural cooperative whose grower programme promotes improvements in soil and water quality, climate resilience and biodiversity.

Energy efficiency and circularity

Reducing the environmental impact of manufacturing is a central element of Nexture’s approach. In 2025, 94% of the group’s electricity came from renewable sources, while its Green Zeus energy-efficiency programme generated more than €300,000 in annual savings by reducing energy demand across multiple manufacturing sites.

The group also reported that no waste was sent to landfill during the year, with 4,586 tonnes recycled and 864 tonnes reused.

Packaging is another area targeted for improvement. Nexture has set 2030 goals for 90% recyclability, with 45% of packaging made from recycled content and 45% from renewable materials.

These measures establish operational priorities against which the group can track future performance. For food manufacturers, such initiatives are relevant to the wider effort to reduce supply-chain emissions and resource consumption while maintaining the consistency and performance required from ingredients and production processes.

Carbon footprinting links innovation to impact

Nexture is also seeking to translate its sustainability strategy into ingredient solutions that address resource constraints and changing formulation requirements.

Its Product Carbon Footprinting programme was launched in 2025, with the first assessment indicating that Egg ’n Easy Plus, an egg-reduction solution for bakery applications, has a carbon footprint of 0.42kg CO₂e per kg. According to Nexture, this is approximately 90% lower than that of a typical European liquid barn egg when the product is diluted in water for use.

The group planned to assess around 50 products during 2026, extending the use of carbon-footprint data in its product development and sustainability work.

Another example is Nuaré, a carob-based cocoa alternative platform introduced in 2025. It is designed to offer manufacturers an alternative ingredient option amid volatility in global cocoa supply chains.

Nexture’s wider value-added solutions strategy focuses on three areas: Better for the Planet, covering applications such as egg replacement, cocoa alternatives and food waste reduction; Better for You, including protein and fibre enrichment and sugar reduction; and Superb Eating Experiences, combining taste, texture and product performance.

The group’s innovation network includes 26 development centres, four innovation centres and Generate, its open innovation hub. In 2025, Generate selected three start-ups working on sustainable fats, circular protein solutions and more resilient cocoa alternatives.

People and future reporting

The People pillar covers talent development, wellbeing, diversity and workplace safety. Nexture introduced a structured Talent Management Review in 2025 to strengthen employee development and succession planning. Women represented approximately 31% of the workforce covered by the report, and the group recorded no work-related fatalities during the year.

Its CARE 2.0 programme is intended to align quality, food safety and workplace safety within a common framework focused on accountability and continuous improvement.

The scope of the first report does not include all of Nexture’s current businesses. Frulact and Sipral Group, both acquired in 2026, were outside the 2025 reporting perimeter. Nexture nevertheless highlighted Frulact’s reported performance during 2025, including the recovery of 97% of its waste and more than 58,500 hours of employee training, as a foundation for future integration into group sustainability reporting.

For Nexture, the first report represents the establishment of a shared baseline rather than the completion of its sustainability programme. The next challenge will be to track progress against its commitments across an expanding group, while connecting improvements in manufacturing, sourcing and ingredient development with measurable outcomes.

As chief executive officer Valerie Diele-Braun said, the group is building the foundations to reduce its environmental impact, strengthen supply-chain resilience and develop ingredient solutions that support a more sustainable food system.