The 2021 ESG Summary – an evolution from PepsiCo’s prior Sustainability Reports – highlights how the company is leveraging its brands, people and scale to chart a new course to drive positive action for the planet and people. It also highlights progress made on industry-leading commitments.
Positive Agriculture
Pep+ helped to spread the adoption of regenerative agriculture practices across more than 345,000 acres, leading to progress toward its goal of seven million acres, the approximate equivalent of PepsiCo’s agricultural footprint, by 2030.
It further Supported the livelihoods of female farmers and rural communities via initiatives such as the $20 million USAID, a partnership to develop women-led enterprises, and the $2 million Next Generation Agriculture Fund with the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) to demonstrate the impact of gender-smart solutions for agriculture.
These programs mark initial action towards a new pep+ goal to improve the livelihoods of more than 250,000 people in PepsiCo’s agricultural supply chain and communities, including economically empowering women. In 28 demonstration farms in India, there were average yield improvements of almost 7 per cent and reduced GHG emissions by more than 7 per cent resulting in the farmer income increase of $55 per acre on average yielded value for farmers.
PepsiCo is working with USAID in West Bengal to empower women farmers and expand their horizons by educating them on sustainable farming practices, best irrigation and crop rotation techniques, financial literacy, entrepreneurship, etc., through training programs. In partnership with USAID, PepsiCo in India has trained more than 1000 women in potato agronomy and sustainable farming practices since 2019 to reach 500 additional women farmers in 2022.
Positive Value Chain
Pep+ initiatives helped reduce Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 25 per cent from a 2015 baseline, with more than 70 per cent of global electricity needs in direct operations now met by renewable sources. In 2021, Scope 3 emissions – which account for 93 per cent of the company’s emissions – increased by 5 cents from a 2015 baseline, due mainly to unprecedented business growth.
It helped improve operational water-use efficiency by 18 per cent in high water-risk areas from a 2015 baseline against a target of 25 per cent by 2025. It replenished 34 per cent of water used in operations to local watersheds in 2021– more than 6.1 billion litres of water. In addition, PepsiCo has continued to advance safe water access globally to more than 68 million people since 2006 (Of this, over 27 million beneficiaries are from India.), putting the company more than halfway to its 2030 goal of 100 million people.
PepsiCo has implemented N-Drip technology on farms in India that saw improved crop yields and reduced fertiliser usage, with an average reduction of 39 per cent in water consumption compared to flood irrigation in the states of Uttar Pradesh and reduced fertiliser usage, with an average decrease of 39 per cent in water consumption compared to flood irrigation in Uttar Pradesh states Punjab and Rajasthan.
Positive Choices
Four years ahead of schedule in 2021, PepsiCo attained its saturated fat reduction goal of 75 per cent. In addition, 53 per cent of PepsiCo’s beverage portfolio volume now has less than 100 Calories from added sugars per 12oz. Serving 66 per cent of its convenient foods portfolio volume does not exceed 1.3 milligrams of sodium per Calorie.
PepsiCo in India has been working to improve the nutritional status of pregnant and lactating women and children in the age group 0-6 years in Sangrur, Punjab, in partnership with Smile Foundation.
“PepsiCo’s commitment and action to create a more sustainable and resilient food system is unwavering, and we are proud of the progress that we made in 2021 toward our new and updated pep+ goals”, Jim Andrew, Chief Sustainability Officer, PepsiCo, said.
He said, “We aim to decouple so our business can grow sustainably while decreasing environmental impacts. There is still much more work to be done, and we cannot do it alone, so we – in partnership with our value chain partners, communities, NGOs and government leaders – will continue investing in action, innovation and partnerships that enable us all to realise a more sustainable future”.
