Food and beverage giant PepsiCo announced today the launch of pep+, a comprehensive sustainability framework bringing together several of the company’s ESGEnvironmental, social, and governance (ESG) criteria are a set of standards for a company’s operations that socially conscious investors use to screen potential investments. initiatives, and guiding sustainability action at the company, product and consumer level. According to the company, the new framework encompasses the company’s sourcing of ingredients, production and sale of products, and inspiration of people through its brands.
pep+ is focused on three key pillars, including Positive Agriculture, including spreading regenerative practices to restore the Earth across the company’s 7 million acre agricultural footprint; Positive Value Chain, through the company’s current climate goals to achieve net zero emissions by 2040 and become water positive, and new sustainable packaging goals introduced today, and; Positive Choices, with initiatives to evolve the company’s portfolio of food & beverage products so that they are better for the planet and people.
Ramon Laguarta, PepsiCo’s Chairman and CEO, said:
“pep+ will change our brands and how they win in the market. For example, imagine Lay’s will start with a potato grown sustainably on a regenerative field, and then be cooked and delivered from a Net-Zero and Net Water Positive supply chain, sold in a bio-compostable bag, with the lowest sodium levels in the market. That’s a positive choice. That’s the best tasting, #1 potato chip of the future. That’s how pep+ will be better for people, for the planet, and for our business. Now, imagine the scale and impact when applied to all 23 of our billion-dollar brands.”
The company’s new sustainable packaging goals include cutting virgin plastic per serving by 50% across its global food & beverage portfolio by 2030, and using 50% recycled content in its plastic packaging.
PepsiCo also announced plans to scale its SodaStream business globally. SodaStream enables consumers to avoid single-use plastic bottles with its reusable bottle-based at-home sparkling water system. The company recently raised its own plastic reduction initiatives earlier this year, estimating that it will enable the avoidance of nearly 78 billion bottles by 2025, and more than 200 billion plastic bottles by 2030.
Jim Andrew, Chief Sustainability Officer, PepsiCo, said:
“By rapidly expanding the SodaStream ecosystem, we are meeting the needs of consumers at home, away from home, and on-the-go. At the same time, we are also offering consumers positive choices that use less plastic, create fewer emissions, and are better for people. pep+ is our roadmap to create the food and drinks people love in a way that helps build the sustainable future we all must have.”
Laguarta added:
“pep+ is the future of our company – a fundamental transformation of what we do and how we do it to create growth and shared value with sustainability and human capital at the center. It reflects a new business reality, where consumers are becoming more interested in the future of the planet and society.”
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