Ferrero Group has announced it plans to reduce emissions by 50% globally by 2030, according to its 12th Sustainability Report.
The confectionary brand said that despite the challenges presented by the global pandemic, Ferrero adapted successfully, putting the health and safety of its employees and consumers at the forefront of its efforts.
A critical focus has been to protect workers and farmers in its agricultural supply chains, especially in less developed markets.
Amongst many other initiatives, Ferrero highlighted that it has extensively distributed information on preventative measures to stop the virus from spreading and provided access to protective and hygiene equipment, it said.
“The impacts of COVID-19 have changed our business and our industry, and they continue to be felt globally," said Giovanni Ferrero, executive chairman of the Ferrero Group.
Despite these challenges, the Ferrero Group successfully adapted, and prioritised consumer and employee health and safety," he added.
2020 Sustainability Report Highlights
Ferrero said it has continued to work towards its 2020 Group sustainability goals, aligned to its four key pillars: protect the environment, source ingredients sustainably, promote responsible consumption and empower people.
It has also begun to define new commitments and targets that will drive further progress across the period leading up to 2030.
One of its new ambitious targets is to continue to significantly reduce the Group’s carbon footprint by 2030, the company said.
These are science-based carbon targets, validated by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) in December 2020, with the following commitments:
• Ferrero will reduce absolute Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 50% globally by 2030, using 2018 as the base year.
• Ferrero will also reduce Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions intensity by 43% per tonne of product produced at a global level, using 2018 as the base year.
Four Key Pillars
The following are a selection of highlights from across Ferrero’s four key pillars:
• Ferrero reached and closed out a number of its 2020 targets having made substantial progress, for instance it has achieved its goal of sourcing 100% sustainable cocoa beans through independently managed schemes and 100% certified cane sugar through Bonsucro and Altromercato.
• Renewable energy is critical to Ferrero’s efforts to achieving its carbon reduction goals and it purchased 100% green electricity for its manufacturing plants in Europe in Fiscal Year 2019/2020, and 71.5% of the electricity purchased globally was from renewable sources.
• In 2019, Ferrero announced a commitment to make 100% of its packaging to be reusable, recyclable or compostable by 2025, as part of its support for the circular economy. As of 2020, we have achieved 82.9% and we continue with our strong commitment to fulfilling this journey,
• Ferrero has continued to build on its efforts over the past decade to enhance its human rights approach. This has been delivered through collaboration with leading experts to identify human rights risks and build out its due diligence approach, as well as entering partnerships to scale positive impact, such as with Save the Children.
“Beyond manufacturing, protecting workers and farmers in agricultural supply chains was a key priority, especially in less developed markets. Our partnerships and collaborations have proved invaluable to reaching those in need of support," said Lapo Civiletti, chief executive officer of the Ferrero Group.
"As we close out our 2020 goals, we are proud to have met our target to source 100% sustainable cocoa through independently managed standards," he said.
"We have now extended the target to include outsourced chocolate to provide full transparency of our cocoa supply chain. We continued to source 100% RSPO certified segregated palm oil and we are developing a transition roadmap for the newly acquired Companies toward our responsible sourcing standards,” Civiletti concluded.
© 2021 Checkout – your source for the latest Irish retail news. Article by Donna Ahern. For more A-Brands news, click here. Click sign up to subscribe to Checkout.
