I choose to look at the sustainability efforts, specifically climate-related, of the Kraft Heinz Company which makes some of America’s favorite products like ketchup, mac & cheese, and many other products. One of the company’s biggest focuses is to become carbon neutral by 2050, and they have pledged to do so. In part of this, they have pledged to reduce their carbon emissions by 50% by 2030. To do this they have and will be using lower carbon packaging, using meat and dairy products from animals that are given methane inhibitors, and transferring to carbon-neutral manufacturing facilities. They are making progress towards their goal of being net zero, according to their website.
Another one of their big focuses is to reduce their energy use intensity by 15% by 2025 as well as using mainly renewable sources for energy by 2025 as well. They have made progress on both of these goals by upgrading machinery and by using wind energy at specific facilities through a partnership with Repsol and BHE Renewables.
They have also aimed to use packaging that is 100% reusable, compostable, or recyclable by 2025. At the end of 2022, they were 87% complete with this goal. They have partnered with an environment consultancy group to complete the rest of their goal and to make sure that the rest of their packaging is all reusable, compostable, or recyclable. One of their new goals in 2023 is to reduce their use of virgin plastic in their packaging by 20% by 2030. This means reducing the amount of new plastic that Heinz uses. This will not only allow them to decrease their usage of fossil fuels but also create more sustainable packaging.
I think that Kraft Heinz is making a good and conscious effort to reduce their carbon footprint and to hopefully slow the effects of climate change. Their sustainability efforts were very easy to find and I appreciated the progress bars and percent complete numbers when showing their progress towards completing their goals.
Photo from Kraft Heinz Company.