Baking & Snack - October 2021 - 22

SUSTAINABILITY
wait until you are told you need to take more sustainable
actions, either by legislation or by your consumers, or
you can decide what sustainability looks like for you on
your timeline. "
A coordinated effort
Sustainability is so complex because it touches every
part of the world. Ms. Kelly offered agribusiness as an
example. The agri-food system's sustainable impact is
not simply limited to the environment like soil quality,
water usage or greenhouse gas emissions, as important
as those aspects are.
" If we think about the agri-food sector beyond the
farm, we think about how the farm engages in the rural
economy and the direct and indirect jobs that are provided, "
she explained. " There are transport jobs, farm
processing jobs, retail jobs and even the cultural importance
that food has for many communities in many
countries. "
During the past decade, one of the more important
lessons emanating from the discourse on sustainability,
and in particular from the lessons emerging from the
Food Systems Summit has been that environmental, socioeconomic
and health issues are interconnected, and
therefore for a company's sustainability plan to be effective
it needs to be multi-faceted and holistic.
" To address the challenges of the environment and
the agri-food sector, it doesn't work when we look at the
sector in silos, " Ms. Kelly said. " This mono-disciplinary
silo approach has taken us to a point of climate crisis.
So, while it's extremely complex to do, the more we have
a multi-sector and multi-stakeholder guidance and approach,
the quicker we'll advance. "
At the country level that FAO operates, this means
coordinating not just with the ministry of agriculture
but also the ministry of finance, which invests in agriculture,
and ministry of health, which develops nutrition
policies, she said. Individual companies can start with a
coordinated effort internally, ensuring that every department
is on board with the sustainability program.
" Like many companies, our early sustainability efforts
were primarily focused on reducing costs, " said Margaret
Ann Marsh, vice president, sustainability and environmental,
Flowers Foods, Thomasville, Ga. " More and
more, our sustainability programs are viewed as an integral
part of the company strategy: how we engage with
investors, consumers, employees and our community. "
Many bakers and CPGs started their sustainability
plans focused on the cost reduction of energy and waste
management as that's easy to measure and see a cost savings.
But as Ms. Kelly pointed out, sustainability can no
longer be its own department but should be a part of every
aspect of a company's business plan.
22 Baking & Snack October 2021 / www.bakingbusiness.com
Food and grocery has room to grow in
sustainability in consumers' eyes
What are food and grocery brands doing
well vs. what they can do better?
Using recycled materials in products/packaging:
27% doing well
vs.
22% doing well
28% doing well
25% can do better
Limiting food waste:
vs.
26% can do better
Paying workers fairly:
vs.
25% can do better
Providing safe, healthy working conditions:
20% doing well
vs.
Ipsos
22% can do better
" You must develop a sustainability strategy, but not
one that works in parallel to the business strategy, " she
said. " Both need to be enmeshed. Gone are the days
when the sustainability manager would be off in some
room on his own trying to badger colleagues to give him
data. "
Conagra Brands made that pivot years ago.
" Our sustainability efforts used to live in the manufacturing
plant with energy and waste management, " said
Katya Hantel, senior director of sustainability, Conagra
Brands, Chicago. " Now we have people working with
R&D, operations and expanding to sustainability partnerships
in procurement, brands and investor relations.
We work much more cross-functionally when we tackle
opportunities today because the definition has become
much more cross-functional and relevant. "
Campbell Snacks, a division of Camden, NJ-based
Campbell Soup Co., approaches its sustainability through
four key pillars: Trusted Food, Vibrant Communities,
Thriving People and a Healthy Environment, which
points to how the company has expanded its definition
of sustainability to include not only environmental issues
but also social and governance issues. Campbell
Snacks conducts a materiality survey every two years
with both internal and external stakeholders. This survey
helps ensure the company's approach is well-aligned
with what stakeholders believe should be prioritized.
" Our approach has become more embedded across
the business to help drive progress with internal experts,
creating multi-year action plans so that the work is em
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