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 plays a critical role in preserving the safety, nutrition and quality of the food we make. General Mills works to reduce the environmental impact of our packaging by using materials designed for recycling, developing innovative packaging and advancing technical solutions through external collaboration. We are focused on protecting the attributes and safety of our products while giving consumers a positive experience with our packaging, from shelf to proper disposal. Given the many different types of packaging involved in our products, innovation in this space requires significant time, investment and collaboration. Our ambition is to design 95% of our packaging to be recyclable or reusable by end 2025 in Europe. As of today, nearly 90% of our packaging by weight is designed to be recyclable or reusable in Europe.
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.
