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Will there soon be less climate change in your Cheerios? Photograph: Alamy Photograph: Alamy
Will there soon be less climate change in your Cheerios? Photograph: Alamy Photograph: Alamy

General Mills joins climate change fight and requires pledges from suppliers too

This article is more than 9 years old

The company is the first major food company to commit to cutting emissions across its operations and supply chain, Oxfam says. The maker of Cheerios also plans to lobby for climate action

Two months after Oxfam launched a campaign urging food and beverage companies to take stronger action to curb climate change, General Mills has promised to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in its agricultural supply chain and to advocate for government climate policy.

General Mills on Monday detailed its new policy on its website, saying: “The imperative is clear: Business, together with governments, NGOs and individuals, needs to act to reduce the human impact on climate change.”

In a news release, Oxfam praised General Mills as “the first major food and beverage company to promise to implement long-term science-based targets to cut emissions from across all of its operations and supply chains that are responsive to the goal of keeping global temperature rise below 2C.

“It’s a major leap,” said Heather Coleman, climate change manager for Oxfam America.

With worldwide revenues of $17.9bn, Minnesota-based General Mills makes and sells food under such brands as Cheerios, Green Giant, Nature Valley, Pillsbury, Betty Crocker and Progressive. The next target for the activists is Kellogg’s, General Mills’ cereal-aisle rival, whose climate commitments so far have been more modest. Kellogg’s didn’t immediate respond to a request for comment.

What’s noteworthy about General Mills’ new policy is its sweeping nature, as well as the company’s willingness to get involved politically.

Most companies in the food industry focus their sustainability work on their own factories and offices, at least in the beginning. But nearly two-thirds of the General Mills greenhouse gas emissions and 99% of its water use occurs upstream of its own factories, explained John Church, the company’s executive vice president of supply chain operations, in a blogpost about the new policy.

General Mills has worked to source more sustainably for years, focusing on such commodities as palm oil, vanilla and cocoa in the developing world and oats, wheat and sugar beets in North America.

Now, though, General Mills says it will require “key ingredient suppliers to demonstrate environmental, social and economic improvements in their supply chains” and commit to “achieve zero net deforestation in high-risk supply chains by 2020”. These new pledges will create incentives for big commodity producers such as Cargill and ADM to reduce their impact, and they – in turn – will likely work with farmers to improve their practices.

This process of expanding the definition of corporate responsibility is similar to what has happened in the apparel and electronics industries, which over time have agreed – at least in theory – to accept responsibility for working conditions and environmental practices deep in their supply chains.

On the political side, many companies have been reluctant to step out publicly on climate change, which remains a contentious issue. General Mills said it will join Nike, Starbucks, Timberland and Unilever in BICEP (Business for Innovative Climate & Energy Policy), a climate-action lobbying project by the advocacy group Ceres.

While it didn’t call for any specific regulations, General Mills said: “Government policies that provide for proportionate and clear guidance on mitigation and adaptation are essential for large-scale progress.”

Interestingly, General Mills cited its decision to join BICEP in its blogpost, but didn’t mention Oxfam America, whose campaign generated 236,000 emails urging the company to act firmly on climate change. The company did not immediately respond to a phone message seeking comment on the Oxfam effort.

But Oxfam’s Heather Coleman said her group had been in contact with Jerry Lynch, General Mills’ sustainability chief, even before the NGO published a report called Standing on the Sidelines: Why food and beverage companies must do more to tackle climate change, and General Mills shared a draft of the new policy before its release with Oxfam.

“We’ve had really productive conversations, with a lot of learning on both sides,” Coleman said.

Oxfam has also been talking with Kellogg’s, the other target of what is often called a “rank ‘em and spank ‘em” campaign. This week, as Kellogg’s announces its quarterly earnings, Oxfam says it plans to take out a full-page ad in USA Today and buy banner ads on Bloomberg News to urge Kellogg’s to act.

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