We’re committing billions in our people and planet to create a better world tomorrow

We love this year’s Earth Day theme: Invest in Our Planet. It’s a theme we’ve been committed to for a while — one that focuses on investing today so future generations can have a better world tomorrow.

And while we’re proud of our $2.7 billion commitment over the next three years across our Sustainable in a Generation Plan(Opens a new window) — and the actions we’re taking to deliver on our commitments to a sustainable, equitable and inclusive future — we take our accountability seriously. We know the only way to accomplish our goals is with accelerated action, partnering with other businesses and a year-round commitment to investing in what’s right for the planet. We’ve put together a few ways we’re working to move the needle, making headway on our sustainability goals today for a healthier planet tomorrow:

Net Zero

We’re committed to achieving Net Zero(Opens a new window) emissions — that is, cutting greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to as close to zero as possible — by 2050, including our scope 3 emissions(Opens a new window) . No easy task, but we’re up for the challenge, and we’re putting our actions (and money) where our mouth is. We know the only way we’ll meet this goal is with a broad, bold approach, so we’re covering our entire value chain, from farm to factory, from how our materials are sourced to how our consumers use our products. We’re proud we’ve already reduced emissions in our direct operations by 31%, and we’re on track to achieve our interim 2025 target of 42% reduction.

We’re also sourcing 100% renewable energy for 53% percent of electricity used in our operations globally. We’re redesigning our supply chains, with a goal for all our high-forest risk commodities to be deforestation-free by 2025, and we’re challenging more than 20,000 suppliers to take climate action too, because let’s face it — we can’t accomplish this alone.

Packaging

Packaging waste is a global challenge requiring new solutions, and our vision for a world where the planet is healthy becomes dimmer. We’re taking action to support the circular economy through investments and innovation, working toward a world where packaging material never becomes waste, but is reused, recycled or composted.

To achieve this goal, we’re investing hundreds of millions of dollars to transform our product portfolio to ensure we’re using 100% recyclable, reusable or compostable packaging.

This includes redesigning more than 12,000 packaging components across our diverse portfolio to fit with the recycling infrastructure that either exists today or is likely to exist soon in the markets where we operate. Today, almost half of our packaging portfolio is undergoing redesign(Opens a new window).

We’re holding ourselves accountable to achieving our circularity goals. Our top 300 executives now have remuneration linked to delivering against our packaging targets, highlighting the central role these commitments play within our business.

Regenerative Agriculture

Investing in regenerative agriculture — a system of farming practices that reduces the climate impact of farming by rebuilding and restoring soil organic matter — is an important part of our ambition to reach net zero by 2050 and do our part to protect soil health, productivity and biodiversity. We’re working directly with farmers and suppliers to promote improved agricultural practices, sustainable land use and to support science and technology, such as genomics research, which pinpoints how to produce more resilient and higher yielding crops. We’ll also take further action to improve soil health to unlock crop yield potential and provide other environmental and climate change benefits.

We’re also proud to partner with the world’s leading food and farming businesses in the Sustainable Markets Initiative Agribusiness Task Force(Opens a new window), chaired by our former CEO Grant Reid. The aim: to scale regenerative farming globally to tackle the impacts of climate change and biodiversity loss.