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PepsiCo’s 2021 ESG Sustainability Reports highlight it’s leveraging a new course to drive positive action for the planet and people.

PepsiCo has published its first Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Summary since the launch of PepsiCo Positive (pep+), a strategic end-to-end business transformation with sustainability and human capital at the centre of how the company will create growth and value.

The 2021 ESG Summary – an evolution from PepsiCo’s prior Sustainability Reports – highlights how the company is leveraging its brands, people and scale to chart a new course to drive positive action for the planet and people. It also highlights progress made on industry-leading commitments.

Positive Agriculture

Pep+ helped to spread the adoption of regenerative agriculture practices across more than 345,000 acres, leading to progress toward its goal of seven million acres, the approximate equivalent of PepsiCo’s agricultural footprint, by 2030.

It further Supported the livelihoods of female farmers and rural communities via initiatives such as the $20 million USAID, a partnership to develop women-led enterprises, and the $2 million Next Generation Agriculture Fund with the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) to demonstrate the impact of gender-smart solutions for agriculture.

These programs mark initial action towards a new pep+ goal to improve the livelihoods of more than 250,000 people in PepsiCo’s agricultural supply chain and communities, including economically empowering women. In 28 demonstration farms in India, there were average yield improvements of almost 7 per cent and reduced GHG emissions by more than 7 per cent resulting in the farmer income increase of $55 per acre on average yielded value for farmers.

PepsiCo is working with USAID in West Bengal to empower women farmers and expand their horizons by educating them on sustainable farming practices, best irrigation and crop rotation techniques, financial literacy, entrepreneurship, etc., through training programs. In partnership with USAID, PepsiCo in India has trained more than 1000 women in potato agronomy and sustainable farming practices since 2019 to reach 500 additional women farmers in 2022.

Positive Value Chain

Pep+ initiatives helped reduce Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 25 per cent from a 2015 baseline, with more than 70 per cent of global electricity needs in direct operations now met by renewable sources. In 2021, Scope 3 emissions – which account for 93 per cent of the company’s emissions – increased by 5 cents from a 2015 baseline, due mainly to unprecedented business growth.

It helped improve operational water-use efficiency by 18 per cent in high water-risk areas from a 2015 baseline against a target of 25 per cent by 2025. It replenished 34 per cent of water used in operations to local watersheds in 2021– more than 6.1 billion litres of water. In addition, PepsiCo has continued to advance safe water access globally to more than 68 million people since 2006 (Of this, over 27 million beneficiaries are from India.), putting the company more than halfway to its 2030 goal of 100 million people.

PepsiCo has implemented N-Drip technology on farms in India that saw improved crop yields and reduced fertiliser usage, with an average reduction of 39 per cent in water consumption compared to flood irrigation in the states of Uttar Pradesh and reduced fertiliser usage, with an average decrease of 39 per cent in water consumption compared to flood irrigation in Uttar Pradesh states Punjab and Rajasthan.

Positive Choices

Four years ahead of schedule in 2021, PepsiCo attained its saturated fat reduction goal of 75 per cent. In addition, 53 per cent of PepsiCo’s beverage portfolio volume now has less than 100 Calories from added sugars per 12oz. Serving 66 per cent of its convenient foods portfolio volume does not exceed 1.3 milligrams of sodium per Calorie.

PepsiCo in India has been working to improve the nutritional status of pregnant and lactating women and children in the age group 0-6 years in Sangrur, Punjab, in partnership with Smile Foundation.

“PepsiCo’s commitment and action to create a more sustainable and resilient food system is unwavering, and we are proud of the progress that we made in 2021 toward our new and updated pep+ goals”, Jim Andrew, Chief Sustainability Officer, PepsiCo, said.

He said, “We aim to decouple so our business can grow sustainably while decreasing environmental impacts. There is still much more work to be done, and we cannot do it alone, so we – in partnership with our value chain partners, communities, NGOs and government leaders – will continue investing in action, innovation and partnerships that enable us all to realise a more sustainable future”.

Lodha developer aims to achieve carbon neutrality by 2035

India’s leading real estate developer, Lodha, has announced the launch of “Lodha Net Zero Urban Accelerator’ to promote sustainable practices in the Indian real estate sector. Assisted by RMI, the developer aims to achieve carbon neutrality by 2035.

The accelerator will craft and deliver innovative initiatives towards Lodha’s net-zero commitment, using facilitated multi-stakeholder engagement, integrative design, and research and development. The meeting with industry stakeholders will be around technologies, business models, financing, and programs to accelerate net-zero implementation.

According to the developer, the model can generate scalable solutions to propel India’s burgeoning built environment towards zero carbon. With the launch of the accelerator, Lodha envisions taking a leadership stance by offering an urban development template that can demonstrate — to India and the world — that growth decoupled from emissions is possible, thus, advancing livability and staying true to its promise of building a better life.

Palava, Lodha’s flagship development and India’s first integrated Greenfield smart city, will be the model used in the initiative, which will gradually be replicated across other locations. Palava will serve as a city-scale living laboratory to solve challenges and pioneer innovations on the path to net-zero.

Commenting on the launch, Abhishek Lodha, MD and CEO, Lodha said, “As a responsible developer, we recognise the crucial role that the real estate sector can play in minimising the risks posed by climate change to our planet. Combating global warming aggressively has become imperative, and the onus is on all organisations to promote the transition towards a low-carbon economy. Aiming to build a better life for everyone, we established a North Star goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2035. The launch of “Lodha Net Zero Urban Accelerator” is a major step in this direction to drive collaborative, large-scale solutions for a greener future. In addition to our long-standing association”.

He said, “RMI is the perfect partner in this journey due to its decades of global expertise in fast-tracking the adoption of market-based solutions. The accelerator is formulated with an overarching goal to make net-zero carbon development the new normal, thereby maximising the sector’s contribution towards India’s 2070 net-zero emissions target while also increasing resilience, health, affordability, and energy services.”

Amory Lovins, Cofounder and Chairman emeritus, RMI, states, “This unique Accelerator can demonstrate that through collaboration, integrative design, and efficiency as a first resource, growth and prosperity will increase greatly while carbon and emissions intensity decline toward zero.”

India imports about 4 lakh tonnes of apple annually. Bringing 5,000 to 8,000 hectare under the HDP model is sufficient to make import substitute in the next five years.

Like many farmers in Uttarakhand, 35 year-old woman farmer from Champawat district Devaki Devi was sceptical of adopting a high density plantation of new apple varieties in mid-altitude range of 1,000-1,500 metres above sea level and that too in just five nali (10,800 square feet) area.

  For years, Devi had been growing vegetables in her small piece of land but decided to shift to apple cultivation after seeing fellow farmers getting better yields and returns.

  She took training in HDP (High Density Plantation) from the ‘Unnati apple project’, a CSR intervention of Coca Cola India along with Bhimtal-based Indo Dutch Horticulture Technologies and G B Pant University Of Agriculture and Technology.

  With technical and financial support from the Unnati project, Devi planted 250 apple saplings of ‘Gala mema’ and ‘Red Delicious’ varieties in five nali areas in 2021.

  In the traditional method, apple trees are planted at a distance of 5-7 metres, whereas in the HDP method it is done at every one metre.

  “Apple fruits are typically ready for harvest in August. But much to my surprise in HDP, the varieties that I planted the fruits were ready for picking in July itself. I got 5-6 kg yield per tree in the first year itself,” Devi said.

  Devi sold apples at Rs 150 per kilogram and got a better price as her crop hit the market a month in advance. She earned nearly Rs 1.80 lakh in the first year itself. Devi is now waiting to harvest next month with a yield as high as 10-15 kilogram per tree.

  For 57-year-old Madan Singh, a traditional apple farmer, growing apple trees at mid-altitude and getting the crop in 12 months after the planting was unbelievable until he tried his hands on five nali areas under the Unnati project.

  In traditional methods, it is difficult to get a crop for harvesting even after six years but in HDP method it was possible to get the crop from second year onwards with yields expected to go up to 50 kg per tree from fifth year, which is unimaginable, he added.

  Due to early maturity and better returns, many farmers in Uttarakhand are taking up this new method of apple cultivation.

  About 700-odd acres of apple orchards have already been developed since the launch of the Unnati apple project in 2018 in the state, Coca-Cola INSWA, CSR and Sustainability Senior Manager Aditya Panda said.

  Not only in Uttarakhand, the new method is also being promoted in Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir, where 300 acres of apple orchards have come up under the Unnati project, he said.

  The target is to achieve 20,000 acres in three states.

  The Unnati apple project was initiated in Uttarakhand solely because the productivity in the state was low at 3-4 tonnes per hectare per annum, half the nation’s average productivity, despite favourable climate and vast available land for greenfield apple cultivation,” Panda said.

  Since farmers were shy of making upfront investment required to establish modern HDP apple orchards of highest global standards, the company subsidised and set up demo farms at their places. Along with planting material, drip irrigation, trellis support structure with four wire support, perforated weed mulching, hail net and fencing material are being provided at subsidised rates.

  To ensure well-being of farmer communities, improve yields and propagate judicious use of natural resources, Coca Cola India partnered with Indo Dutch Horticulture Technologies (IDHT) as its implementation partner in Uttarakhand.

  IDHT is the biggest and leading producer of high density apple plant nursery in India. It has been key in supplying the right planting material to farmers.

  “With a five times increase in yield expected from HDP apple orchards, there is potential to make the country self-sufficient in apple production. This will also help in reverse migration and provide employment to youth in hilly states,” Indo-Dutch Horticulture Technologies (IDHT) Director Sudhir Chadha said.

  A total of 2 lakh hectare is under apple cultivation in India, out of which 10,000 hectare in Uttarakhand.

  “We import about 4 lakh tonnes annually. Bringing 5,000 to 8,000 hectare under the HDP model is sufficient to make import substitute in the next five years,” he said.

  ‘Gala mema’, ‘Gala Schinico Red’ , ‘King Roat and ‘Golden Parsi Da Rosa’ are some of the high yielding varieties which Chadha has developed by grafting apple trees on rootstock imported from The Netherlands and Italy.

  These apple varieties can be grown in mid-altitude range and the research is underway to grow HDP apples in plains as well, he said.

  Chadha, a pioneer in the high density apple plantation in India, is conducting research in HDP apples at an experimental field of 10,000 acres given on lease for 10 years by G B Pant University Of Agriculture and Technology, which is a knowledge partner of Unnati Apple Project.

  According to Shivendra Kashyap, Dean, College of Agriculture at G B Pant University Of Agriculture and Technology, “We are doing research in some fruits, not in apples. Chadha’ HDP method has potential to change the way apples are cultivated not only in Uttarakhand but in other hilly states.”

  Coca Cola India has capped the subsidy for setting up an HDP apple orchard in five nali areas. The subsidy varies for three states. Farmers, however, can expand their orchards at their own cost.

  Besides apples, the company is working with farmers to boost production of mango, orange, grapes, litchi and priority commodities like sugarcane in 11 states under the Unnati project, which is part of the company’s ‘Fruit Circular Economy’.