Campbell Soup, which made its pledge in its 2011 Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) report, will focus on water use and carbon dioxide emissions per tonne of product produced when making its calculations.
However, it has also set ambitious targets to cut energy use per tonne of product produced by a third, source almost half its energy from renewable sources, recycle 95 percent of its waste and produce all of its packaging from sustainable materials by 2020.
It will also work with suppliers to identify greener ways to grow its top five agricultural raw materials in a bid to reduce water and energy use.
Kraft, meanwhile, has set 2015 as the day of reckoning for its green initiatives, pledging to increase sustainable sourcing of commodities by 25 percent and slash energy use, energy-related CO2 emissions, water consumption and waste in its factories by 15 percent (compared with 2010).
While such initiatives were the right thing to do for the planet, a focus on reducing water and energy use had also delivered significant savings at a site level over the past year for Campbell Soup, revealed CSR vice president Dave Stangis.
Highlights included:
- A $1m saving from reducing natural gas usage for steam generation and a $200,000 saving from reducing water use per tonne of food produced at its Maxton plant in North Carolina.
- A $500,000 saving in utility costs from new and improved work practices at its Sacramento plant in California and $130,000-a-year saving from installing a new cooling tower that re-circulates and recycles water and heat at its Milwaukee spice plant.
Health and wellness
On the nutritional front, Campbell has not set specific targets, but said ‘wellness-oriented’ products (organic, full vegetable serving, light, low fat, reduced sodium and whole grain) accounted for almost a third (32.1 percent) of group revenues in 2010 compared with just over a quarter (26.8 percent) in 2009 and a fifth (21.5 percent) in 2008.
In the US alone, Campbell has more than 200 products with reduced sodium, more than 200 products low in fat and saturated fat and more than 150 products with 100 calories or fewer per serving, he said.
“Campbell now offers eight times the number of reduced-sodium products in our portfolio compared to 2005.”
Meanwhile, Campbell had “reduced or eliminated artificial trans-fats in almost all of its bakery products” and continued to look for opportunities to reduce saturated fat and increase wholegrain content in its products, he said.