Kellogg has announced new social and environmental commitments that the company believes will enrich the lives of consumers and farmers while supporting the environment.
"This company was founded on the belief that there's an inherent goodness in grains and that continues to hold true today," said John Bryant, Kellogg Company chairman of the board and chief executive officer. "We are committed to nourishing families so they can flourish and thrive. Our new sustainability goals will help us do this by delivering high-quality grains in a responsible way that enriches the lives of consumers and agricultural growers around the world."
Kellogg is announcing new global sustainability commitments in two areas – responsible sourcing and natural resources.
In responsible sourcing, Kellogg says that it will:
Responsibly source its top 10 ingredients and materials by 2020, and validate compliance across all direct suppliers by 2015.
Continue to provide resources and education to key agricultural suppliers, millers and farmers to help them increase their resilience to climate change; optimize their use of fertilizer inputs; reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in their agricultural practices; optimize water use and enhance watershed quality; and improve soil health.
Build programs to help small-scale farmers improve their livelihoods by adapting to climate change and improving their agronomic practices and business skills.
Identify areas within Kellogg's supply chain with a high prevalence of women farmers and workers and develop programs to provide resources and education that improve the livelihoods of these women, their families and their communities.
Around the world, Kellogg says that it works with its growers, suppliers and partners to improve their livelihoods and reduce the company's overall impact on the environment. This includes helping wheat farmers in the United Kingdom improve soil health, supporting a women's cooperative of more than 600 farm families in Bolivia, and promoting new rice growing methods in Thailand that reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
In the U.S., Kellogg notes that it, its leading corn supplier, Bunge, together with The Nature Conservancy are driving agricultural conservation management in the Midwest Corn Belt including portions of the Missouri River, Upper Mississippi River and Ohio River watersheds. The goal is to encourage farmers to implement best management practices, track farm-level and watershed outcomes that will benefit the region, and measure continuous improvement of on-farm practices using Field to Market metrics.
"We also want to support the smallholder farmers and women farmers who grow our ingredients around the world," said Diane Holdorf, Kellogg Company chief sustainability officer. "Not only is Kellogg innovating great-tasting, nutritious foods, through our work with growers we're also building trust in our foods."
To do so, Kellogg partners with organisations such as Cooperative for Assistance and Relief Everywhere (CARE), a leading global humanitarian organisation working to empower women, families and communities to escape poverty. CARE promotes solutions to and advocates on behalf of global responsibility. The group also was instrumental in guiding the development of Kellogg's new commitments.
"We are proud to partner with companies like Kellogg who understand the critical importance of enriching the lives of people who are part of their value chain," said Helene Gayle, president and CEO of CARE. "Through these new and expanded commitments, Kellogg can make a lasting difference in the communities where their ingredients are sourced. We applaud Kellogg for their efforts and look forward to hearing about their progress."
In terms of conserving natural resources, Kellogg said that it will:
Further reduce energy and GHG emissions by an additional 15% (per metric tonne of food produced) from 2015 performance.
Expand use of low-carbon energy in plants by 50% by 2020.
Support watershed quality, implement water reuse projects in 25% of plants by 2020, and further reduce water use by an additional 15% (per metric tonne of food produced) from 2015 performance.
Increase to 30% the number of plants sending zero waste to landfill by 2016.
Ensure that 100% of timber-based packaging continues to be either recycled or from certified sustainable sources, while implementing resource-efficient packaging, as measured by improved performance for recycled content, recyclability and food-to-package ratios.
