Greencore Group plc (“Greencore” or the “Group”), a leading manufacturer of convenience foods in the UK, is delighted to announce that it has joined The Climate Pledge, a commitment co-founded by Amazon and Global Optimisation in September 2019 to meet the Paris Agreement goal to be net zero carbon by 2040 – 10 years ahead of the 2050 schedule set out in The Paris Agreement.
As a signatory to The Climate Pledge, Greencore confirms its commitment to:
- Measure and report greenhouse gas emissions on a regular basis.
- Implement decarbonisation strategies in line with the Paris Agreement through real business changes and innovations, including efficiency improvements, renewable energy, materials reductions, and other carbon emission elimination strategies.
- Neutralise any remaining emissions with additional, quantifiable, real, permanent, and socially-beneficial offsets to achieve net zero annual carbon emissions by 2040 which, as outlined above, is ten years ahead of the Paris Agreement’s goal of 2050.
In November 2020, Greencore published its new sustainability strategy as part of its inaugural standalone Sustainability Report, which contains a range of pledges across the areas of sourcing, manufacturing, and community engagement. Its commitments include:
- A fully recyclable sandwich skillet will be developed and brought to market in 2021.
- A deforestation-free supply chain by 2025.
- All raw materials will be sustainably sourced by 2030.
- All surplus product will be donated to local communities by 2022.
- Product development will be equally split between animal protein versus plant-rich alternatives by 2030.
As a leading convenience food manufacturer in the UK, Greencore has a transformative role to play when it comes to fighting food waste and hunger while being climate-smart, both on a local and global level. In addition to being committed to net zero for its own operations, Greencore is also in the process of setting Science Based Targets (‘SBTs’) for its supply chains, where the majority of its carbon footprint lies.
Having SBTs, which will be based on the latest independent climate science data, will enable the Group to assess and report on how it is performing against its greenhouse gas emissions goals in a way that benefits society as a whole. In future, Greencore plans to use its SBTs more widely within the Group, to help inspire colleagues and to drive innovation as it looks to deliver lower-carbon products. Ultimately, setting SBTs will make Greencore more agile in how it responds to future opportunities and challenges, ensuring the Group remains competitive in the markets in which it operates.
Commenting on The Climate Pledge, Patrick Coveney, CEO at Greencore said:
“At Greencore, we are passionate about playing our part in creating and delivering a more sustainable, equitable and inclusive food system. Through our Group-wide sustainability strategy we have made significant reductions in direct greenhouse gas emissions, energy consumption, and total waste generated, including food waste. We promote water stewardship across all of our manufacturing sites and greater uptake of sustainable packaging materials for our products. We have also strengthened our sustainability procurement requirements – but we know we can go much further. We’re delighted to continue with this work as a part of The Climate Pledge.”
Amazon quote
“Less than two years ago, Amazon co-founded The Climate Pledge and called on other companies to reach the Paris Agreement 10 years early—today, more than 100 companies with over $1.4 trillion in global annual revenues and more than 5 million employees have signed the pledge,” said Jeff Bezos, Amazon founder and CEO. “We are proud to stand with other signatories to use our scale to decarbonize the economy through real business change and innovation.”
