Responsibility

Bringing goodness to all we do

At General Mills one of our goals is to stand among the most socially responsible food companies in the world. General Mills is committed to doing good for our people, our food, our planet and our communities.

Globally we have made a number of important sustainability commitments including in a variety of areas.

Our Food

From food safety to nutrient-dense products; diverse brands to innovation; General Mills makes food worth loving.

In the UK we play an active role in the health debate and through proactive engagement with stakeholders, reformulation initiatives and a commitment to the responsible marketing of our products we want to be part of the solution to addressing the complex causes of obesity and other food-related consumer health issues.

Our Planet

We work to drive sustainability across our global operations and continually reduce our environmental impact. Our main focus areas include GHG emissions, energy use, water and waste reduction with the ambition to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 30% by 2030 vs a 2020 baseline and reach net zero emissions by 2050 in alignment with the new SBTi 1.5oC guidance.

Advancing regenerative agriculture across the company’s sourcing footprint on 1 million acres by 2030 and activating programs across our ingredient categories with the largest GHG footprint is just one of the ways we intend to reach that goal. 115,000 acres enrolled in programs advancing regenerative management last year.

Packaging also plays a critical role in preserving the safety, nutrition and quality of the food we make. It presents challenges in terms of raw materials used in production as well as the waste generated when improper disposal occurs. Packaging is also one of the foremost sustainability issues for our consumers. General Mills works to reduce the environmental impact of packaging by increasing use of recycled and recyclable materials, innovating to make our materials better, and leading through external collaboration. Our packaging ambition is that all General Mills brands will design 100% of packaging to be recyclable or reusable by 2025. Today 90% of our packaging are already recyclable or reusable in Europe and Australia.

Another major goal that we have is to sustainably source the raw materials we use in our products. In 2020 we achieved sustainably sourcing 100 percent of our top 10 priority ingredients – representing more than 50 percent of our annual raw material purchases. Those 10 ingredients are: vanilla, cocoa, palm oil, sugarcane, oats, wheat, sugar beets, corn, dairy products and fibre packaging.

Our Communities

We are deeply committed to the communities where we live and operate and from which we source our ingredients. Our philanthropic partnerships and employee engagement aims to build strong, equitable and resilient communities.

In the UK, General Mills has been in partnership with FareShare since 2013: providing substantial funding and tons of surplus food to this valued charity partner which then distributes the food across its network of frontline charities and community groups. This year, we also supporting the food charity’s flagship employability programme: New Horizons, which is part of FareShare’s wider employability initiative, FareFutures, which gives jobseekers the chance to gain industry-recognised qualifications, work experience and employment support at FareShare food warehouses.

Via our delivery partners at the Greggs Foundation, we also operate a network of breakfast clubs in schools across the U.K. Since our partnership launched in 2017, we’ve enabled over 5,000 pupils in 70 schools to gain daily access to a nourishing school breakfast and to remove hunger as a barrier to learning.

In addition to a yearly grant, UK employees have the opportunity to support and volunteer with Groundwork South, a federation of charities working locally and nationally to transform lives in the UK’s most disadvantaged communities. They help people gain confidence and skills, get into training and work, protect and improve green spaces, lead more active lives and overcome significant challenges such as poverty, isolation, low skills and poor health. We are regular visitors to this charity’s most site most local to our London offices in Iver.

Our People

At General Mills, it’s all about our people. The passion, conviction, commitment, care and resilience that our people bring to everything we do at General Mills are what make the difference. We’re proud of our efforts to create a safe, inclusive and rewarding workplace. We invest in our people because their bold thoughts and big hearts allow us to grow together.

Our focus on people — including human rights and racial equity — extends across our value chain.

At General Mills, G stands for Good.

For more information on our global commitments and progresses we made, read our annual Global Responsibility Report: https://www.generalmills.co.uk/news/stories/doing-good-is-our-responsibility

G stands for good

At General Mills one of our goals is to stand among the most socially responsible food companies in the world. We want to treat the world with care and not least because our success is directly dependent on natural resources, on the communities in which we operate and on the people with whom we work.

In the UK we play an active role in the health debate and through proactive engagement with stakeholders, reformulation initiatives and a commitment to the responsible marketing of our products we want to be part of the solution to addressing the complex causes of obesity and other food-related consumer health issues.

Through our UK CSR programmes we are focussed on addressing community food and nutrition security, as well as supporting our employees who wish to engage in charitable initiatives either individually or through company-led projects such as our partnership with leading UK food re-distribution charity FareShare.

Globally we have made a number of important sustainability commitments including a goal to sustainably source the raw materials we use in our products. Those 10 ingredients are: vanilla, cocoa, palm oil, sugarcane, oats, wheat, sugar beets, corn, dairy products and fibre packaging.