Friday 27 September 2013

GENERAL MILLS WILL SOURCE 100% OF KEY INGREDIENTS SUSTAINABLY BY 2020

GENERAL MILLS MOVES TOWARDS SUSTAINABLE SOURCING 100% OF KEY INGREDIENTS BY 2020

MINNEAPOLIS—General Mills has committed to sustainably sourcing 100% of 10 priority ingredients by 2020, representing 50% of the company's total raw material purchases. The priority ingredients include oats, wheat, corn, dairy, fiber packaging, cocoa, vanilla, palm oil, sugar (cane) and sugar (beets).
To achieve its 2020 goal, General Mills will follow a four-step sustainable sourcing model—assessment, strategy formation, transformation and monitoring/evaluation.
Healthy Oat Groats

General Mill's has worked with the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) since 2010 to integrate sustainability into the company’s supply chain, conducting a supply risk analysis of the company’s agricultural sourcing and water risk assessment. This assessment prioritized raw materials which were analyzed against dozens of potential risk categories such as human rights, deforestation, economic sustainability, fertilizer (nitrogen) use, GHG emissions, soil loss, water quality and water use.

 “General Mills is committed to creating long-term value for our business, and our society," said Ken Powell, chief executive officer of General Mills. “Producing enough food to feed an increasingly hungry world will require not only innovation and dedication, but also careful attention to the impact of agriculture on our environment."

Nearly two-thirds of General Mills’ greenhouse gas emissions and 99% of water use occur outside the company’s operations, primarily in agriculture. Therefore, the company will work with industry partners and non-governmental agencies across the supply chain to identify new solutions.

The opportunities for each ingredient are unique and geographically specific, which require General Mills to pursue a range of sustainable approaches including certification, verification, continuous improvement and origin-direct investment. Specific commitments by ingredient area to be achieved by 2020 are:
  • Oats: 100% sourced from growing regions that demonstrate continuous improvement against industry-based environmental metrics.
  • Wheat: 100% sourced from growing regions that demonstrate continuous improvement against the field-to-market framework or comparable environmental metrics.
  • Corn: 100% sourced from growing regions that demonstrate continuous improvement against the field-to-market framework or comparable environmental metrics.
  • Dairy: 100% will originate from producing regions that demonstrate continuous improvement as measured by the Dairy Sustainability Framework (U.S.) or other comparable environmental metrics (globally).
  • Fiber packaging: 100% will be from recycled material or from virgin wood fiber regions that are known to not contribute to deforestation. Any high-risk regions will be independently verified.
  • Cocoa: 100% sourced through origin-direct investment, to improve the incomes of smallholder farmers and the quality of ingredients.
  • Vanilla: 100% sourced through origin-direct investment, to improve the incomes of smallholder farmers and the quality of ingredients.
  • Palm oil: 100% sourced from responsible and sustainable sources, which already exist in Europe, in 2015.
  • Sugar (cane): 100% sourced from responsible and sustainable sources.
  • Sugar (beets): 100% U.S. beet sugar sourced from growing regions that demonstrate continuous improvement against the field-To-market framework or comparable environmental metrics.
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