PepsiCo, Inc., recently announced that it plans to more than double its science-based climate goal, targeting a reduction of absolute green house gas (GHG) emissions across its value chain by more than 40% by 2030. In addition, the company has pledged to achieve net-zero emissions by 2040, one decade earlier than called for in the Paris Agreement.
Specifically, PepsiCo plans to reduce absolute GHG emissions across its direct operations (Scope 1 and 2) by 75% and its indirect value chain (Scope 3) by 40% by 2030 (2015 baseline). This action is expected to result in the reduction of more than 26 million metric tons of GHG emissions or the equivalent of taking more than five million cars off the road for a full year.
"The severe impacts from climate change are worsening, and we must accelerate the urgent systemic changes needed to address it," said PepsiCo Chairman and CEO Ramon Laguarta, in the release. "Climate action is core to our business as a global food and beverage leder and propels our PepsiCo Positive journey to deliver positive outcomes for the planet and people."
PepsiCo's sustainability strategy, informed by leading science-based measures and cost-benefit analysis, focuses on the areas where it can have the most impact, while creating scalable models and partnerships for accelerated progress across the full value chain. The company's emissions target aligns to the Business Ambition for 1.5°C pledge and has been approved by the Science Based Targets initiative as the most ambitious designation available through their process.
PepsiCo's action plan is centered around both mitigation, reducing GHG emissions to decarbonize its operations and supply chain, and resilience, reducing vulnerabilities to the impacts of climate change by continuing to incorporate climate risk into business continuity plans. With operations in more than 200 countries and territories around the world and approximately 260,000 employees, the company's emissions reduction plan will be comprehensive across priority areas such as agriculture, packaging, distribution and operations.