PITTSBURGH & CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Today, The Kraft Heinz Company (Nasdaq: KHC) (“Kraft Heinz” or the “Company”) released its latest Environmental Social Governance (“ESG”) Report along with its 2025 Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging (“DI&B”) Aspirations. The report highlights progress the Company has delivered against these Aspirations and across the Company’s three ESG pillars: Healthy Living & Community Support, Environmental Stewardship, and Responsible Sourcing.
“Our 2021 ESG Report serves as a testament to our approximately 38,000 global employees who went above and beyond to support our communities and each other during 2020,” said Kraft Heinz CEO Miguel Patricio. “We are committed to holding ourselves to a higher standard, stepping up to the plate to boldly address the environmental and societal challenges we face today and those that lie ahead.”
Progress Across Key ESG Focus Areas
Among the highlights of Kraft Heinz’s progress across its three ESG pillars in 2020:
- Stepping Up to Support Communities: Kraft Heinz provided more than $40 million in financial and product donations for COVID-19 relief, food insecurity, and social justice causes globally in 2020. This includes a $1 million donation to support food programs and social justice organizations in Black communities, including the United Negro College Fund, My Block My Hood My City, the Second Harvest Heartland food bank in Minneapolis, and 412 Food Rescue. Additionally, through partnerships with organizations including Rise Against Hunger, Heifer International, Feeding America, and Magic Breakfast, Kraft Heinz delivered more than 200 million meals globally in 2020 and is on track to achieving its aim of delivering 1.5 billion meals to those in need by 2025.
- Circular Packaging Design: Kraft Heinz has made significant progress toward meeting its aim of using 100% recyclable, reusable, or compostable packaging by 2025. Through 2020, 83% of the Company’s global packaging meets this standard. The Company’s 2020 advances include a 100% recyclable and compostable Maxwell House coffee pod made from plant-based materials in Canada – and a new partnership with Loop, a waste-free online shop, that enabled select UK customers to purchase Heinz Tomato Ketchup bottles in refillable packaging that is collected, cleaned, and refilled after use. After introducing Heinz Tomato Ketchup’s first 100% recyclable cap in 2021, the Company will roll out its first circular tomato ketchup PET bottle to the European market in 2022.
- A Culture of Animal Welfare: In 2020, Kraft Heinz made good on its commitment to laying hen welfare, achieving the Company’s goal to exclusively purchase free-range eggs in Europe by the end of the year. Globally, the Company’s supply of eggs was sourced from 66% cage-free or better farms as of the end of 2020. Kraft Heinz is on track to follow through on its target to source 100% cage-free eggs globally by 2025.
Recognizing the ongoing threat of climate change, Kraft Heinz continues to address its environmental footprint. In 2020, the Company set new and ambitious manufacturing targets for 2025. Kraft Heinz aims to decrease water use intensity by 20% in high-risk watershed areas and by 15% across its manufacturing facilities, and to decrease energy use intensity by 15% and waste to landfill intensity by 20% across its manufacturing facilities. Against 2019 baselines, the Company made significant progress towards all of these goals in its first year of the journey. It reduced water use intensity by 5.2% in high-risk watershed areas and 2.8% across its facilities. The Company also reduced energy use intensity by 2.2%, GHG intensity by 3.4%, and waste to landfill intensity by 6%.
Kraft Heinz also renewed its commitment to set a science-based target by 2023 with the Science Based Targets initiative in accordance with a climate change threshold of 1.5 degrees Celsius. As part of this commitment, Kraft Heinz also publicly disclosed the entirety of its value chain’s GHGs, as verified by a third-party consulting firm.
2025 DI&B Aspirations
To enhance its long-standing commitment to a diverse and inclusive culture and workforce, Kraft Heinz is publicly sharing its 2025 DI&B Aspirations – including expanding the diversity of its supplier partners. The Aspirations aim to grow the Company’s underrepresented talent around the world and foster a more inclusive company culture. Currently, the Kraft Heinz Executive Leadership Team is 30% women and 80% people of color, while members of the Company’s Board of Directors are 18% women and 36% people of color.
“We want the voices within our Company to reflect and represent our consumers as we innovate our products, create our marketing, and partner with customers and suppliers,” said Patricio. “Amplifying our focus on diversity, inclusion, and belonging enables us to fully realize two of our Company Values – We demand diversity and We are consumer obsessed. Our size and scale afford us the opportunity to have real impact.”
The Company’s 2025 DI&B Aspirations include:
- Aiming to achieve gender parity within management positions globally by 2025, which means increasing the representation of women in management from 37% to 50%.
- Aiming to reach demographic parity in the countries where Kraft Heinz operates by 2025. For example, in the United States, where more than half its employees live and work, the Company aspires for people of color to represent 30% of the salaried employee population by 2025. Currently, this population is 24%.
- Aspiring to foster a culture in which all employees from all backgrounds truly feel included and feel a sense of belonging at Kraft Heinz.
The Company is also contributing to a more inclusive economy through a new Supplier Diversity Program, starting with U.S. businesses that are majority-owned by people of color, women, LGBTQ-plus individuals, people with disabilities, and veterans. Such certified businesses will gain access to essential skills, tools, and networks through the program, giving them the opportunity to become Kraft Heinz suppliers. The program initially starts in the United States, with the goal of growing it globally.
More information on Kraft Heinz’s progress and commitments can be found in the 2021 ESG Report at kraftheinzcompany.com/esg.
About The Kraft Heinz Company
We are driving transformation at The Kraft Heinz Company (Nasdaq: KHC), inspired by our Purpose, Let’s Make Life Delicious. Consumers are at the center of everything we do. With 2020 net sales of approximately $26 billion, we are committed to growing our iconic and emerging food and beverage brands on a global scale. We leverage our scale and agility to unleash the full power of Kraft Heinz across a portfolio of six consumer-driven product platforms. As global citizens, we’re dedicated to making a sustainable, ethical impact while helping feed the world in healthy, responsible ways. Learn more about our journey by visiting www.kraftheinzcompany.com or following us on LinkedIn and Twitter.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains a number of forward-looking statements. Words such as “progress,” “deliver,” “commit,” “address,” “aspire,” “provide,” “achieve,” “aim,” “advance,” “enable,” “will,” “on track,” “set,” “renew,” “enhance,” “expand,” “foster,” “innovate,” “amplify,” “realize,” “contribute,” “start,” and variations of such words and similar future or conditional expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These statements are not historical facts and are based on Kraft Heinz’s current beliefs, expectations, estimates, and projections. These forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, many of which are difficult to predict and beyond Kraft Heinz’s control, which could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated in the forward-looking statements. Those factors include, but are not limited to, the risk factors set forth in Kraft Heinz’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including Kraft Heinz’s most recently filed Annual Report on Form 10-K and subsequent reports on Forms 10-Q and 8-K. Kraft Heinz disclaims and does not undertake any obligation to update, revise, or withdraw any forward-looking statement in this press release, except as required by applicable law or regulation.
