Today, PepsiCo announced plans to reduce absolute
greenhouse gas (GHG emissions) across its direct operations (Scope 1 and 2) by
75 percent; and its indirect value chain (Scope 3) by 40 percent by 2030 (2015
baseline) — a decade earlier than called for in the Paris Agreement. The company
says it expects this will save over 26 million metric tons of GHG emissions, or
the equivalent of taking more than five million cars off the road for a full
year.
PepsiCo’s Chief Sustainability Officer, Jim Andrew, says:
"Our climate ambition is at the very heart of accelerating our global
sustainability progress, and we are using our scale and reach to build a more
sustainable and regenerative global food system. It's long overdue that
companies move beyond just minimizing their environmental impact, they must
actively work to improve and regenerate the planet."
PepsiCo's sustainability strategy — informed by science-based
measures and
cost-benefit analysis, focuses on the areas where it can have the most impact —
while creating scalable models and partnerships for accelerated progress across
the full value chain. The company's emissions target aligns to the Business
Ambition for 1.5°C
pledge, and has been
approved by the Science Based Targets initiative as the most ambitious
designation available through their process.
DEI and sustainability: The ROI of inclusive corporate cultures
Join us as leaders from the Accomplis Collective, Bard, Beneficial State Foundation, ReEngineering HR and REI share best practices for cultivating a culture of belonging and insights into how inclusive leadership can lead to more effective and equitable sustainability outcomes — Wednesday, Oct. 16, at SB'24 San Diego.
"We congratulate PepsiCo on setting an emissions reduction target consistent
with limiting warming to 1.5°C, the most ambitious goal of the Paris Agreement,"
said Nate Aden, Senior Associate at World Resources Institute, one of
the Science Based Targets initiative partners. "Companies have a vital role
to play in driving down global emissions, and it is encouraging to see major
players, such as PepsiCo, taking ambitious action."
PepsiCo's action plan is centered around both mitigation, reducing GHG emissions
to decarbonize its operations and supply chain; and resilience, reducing
vulnerabilities to the impacts of climate change by continuing to incorporate
climate risk into business continuity plans. With operations in more than 200
countries and territories around the world and approximately 260,000 employees,
the company's emissions reduction plan will be comprehensive across priority
areas such as agriculture, packaging, distribution and operations.
Read more details about PepsiCo’s climate goals
here
…
Guatemalan potato farmers | Image credit: Argenpapa
Meanwhile, PepsiCo also announced this week an expanded effort to foster social
and economic growth in Latin America and the Caribbean. The company has
extended its partnership with the PepsiCo Foundation, the Inter-American
Development Bank, and its innovation-focused IDB Lab until 2026 to carry
out programs that will drive social and economic growth in the regions. The
signing of this agreement will complete 19 years of a joint effort.
For this new phase, PepsiCo and its Foundation will invest approximately US$6
million — which will fund projects in the areas of water access, inclusive
recycling,
sustainable
agriculture
and economic recovery, with a focus on women’s empowerment — over the next five
years.
According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, in Latin America
and the Caribbean, 4.5 million
women
are agricultural producers who earn 24 percent less than men and have less
access to land ownership. Research shows that if female farmers had the same
access to resources as men, they could increase their land yield by 20-30
percent,
potentially reducing the number of hungry people in the world by 150
million.
As an agro-industrial company, PepsiCo says it firmly believes that offering
better conditions to women in the
fields
not only increases the productivity of the sector, but also is key to having a
more sustainable food system that generates social development — which is why
PepsiCo continually invests in programs for women to provide training, technical
support and improved credit
access.
As part of this partnership’s extension, IDB Lab and PepsiCo launched the Next
Generation Agriculture Fund, which aims to identify challenges connected to
gender issues within PepsiCo’s potato supply
chains — initially in the Dominican Republic,
Ecuador and Guatemala. The three-year program aims to help improve the
resilience and sustainability of the supply chains in these three countries.
Paula Santilli, CEO of PepsiCo Latin America, said:
“PepsiCo has witnessed how the participation of women in the fields and
throughout our value chain is key to achieving a sustainable food system. We
believe that including them in the agro sector is fundamental; which will
benefit them, their families and their communities. Their employability will be
crucial to reactivate the economy and growth of our region. This is how we came
up with the Next Generation Agriculture Fund, where PepsiCo and the IDB will be
investing US$2 million to research and take action to enhance the role of women
as strategic partners in our potato supply chain.”
Read more about the new goals around the partnership, and its impacts to date
here.
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Sustainable Brands Staff
Published Jan 14, 2021 1pm EST / 10am PST / 6pm GMT / 7pm CET