We strive for a healthier and more hopeful tomorrow for our planet and the people we share it with. Through ambitious goals and collaboration with our team members, growers, consumers, retailers, nonprofit partners and investors, we’re working hard to achieve them. Because we know that collectively, we can continue to do more. 

Net-Zero Emissions by 2050

The food industry has an important role to play in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and we’re committed to doing all we can to accelerate progress. In 2022, we announced our commitment to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050 in line with the Science Based Targets Initiative's (SBTi) Net-Zero Standard. Aligning with SBTi gives us a clearly defined and measurable path to not only achieve our long-term goal of net-zero emissions by 2050, but also drive near-term and consistent progress for reducing emissions across our supply chain.

To achieve our net-zero goal, we’re executing aggressive plans to reduce or eliminate the majority of our existing emissions rather than purchase external carbon credits to offset emissions. This approach is also aligned with SBTi’s requirement that registered companies reduce at least 90% of baseline emissions, minimizing the use of carbon credits.

We’ve already made important strides to meet our goal, including:

  • Streamlining the footprint of our operations to maximize output and eliminate unnecessary emissions from facilities operating at less than full capacity.
     
  • Doubling our capital investment in production operations over the past three years to add automation and other technologies for improved efficiency and reduced waste.
  • Preparing more products for rail shipping, refining our fuel reimbursement process and improving the way we manage empty driven miles.
  • Upcycling to reduce food waste, including diverting more than 17 million pounds of food from landfills over the past two years through a focus on upcycling and food donations. An upcycling leader, our Del Monte Foods’ Blue Lake® Petite Cut and Blue Lake® Farmhouse Cut Green Beans products were the industry's first canned vegetable product to be Upcycled Certified by the Upcycled Food Association, the world's only third-party certification program for upcycled food ingredients and products.

Water Conservation

To ensure we’re using water responsibly, we’ve worked hard over the years to reduce our water usage — from how we water our crops to the way we produce our products.

But, we're not stopping there. We aim to reduce water use in our plants by 18 million gallons annually.

Earth-Friendly Packaging

We’re always working hard to reduce the footprint of our packaging by investing in new materials and redesigning existing materials. Since 2009, we’ve been reducing our use of plastics and metal. Today, only 7% of our packaging by weight contains any plastics; the rest is fully recyclable steel, glass or paper based.

In fiscal 2023, we began incorporating post-consumer resin (PCR) in the manufacturing of our JOYBA®
beverage cups. Because PCR is a material made from recycled plastic, this takes us one step closer
to reaching our goal to include 25% of recycled content into our plastic packaging. We’ve also begun storage studies on fruit cups made with PCR and continue to look for other opportunities to incorporate PCR and other recycled materials into our packaging.

By 2030, we’re committed to converting plastic packaging to 100% recyclable, reusable or compostable. For more on our specific packaging goals, please see our latest Sustainability Report.

Sustainable Agriculture

Our produce is mostly grown on a community of farms across the U.S. and Mexico, many of whom have been working with us for three, four or even five generations — and some for more than 100 years. We partner with our growers to help control inputs, such as the amount of nitrogen or minerals used to fertilize crops and orchards, which in turn, reduces the amount of greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere.

Finally, our Non-GMO Seed Breeding program is part of our legacy and how we create vegetable seeds designed to increase pest and disease resistance and quality. We always breed seeds the traditional way, without the use of GMOs.