Pledge overview

As one of the world's leading food and beverage companies, PepsiCo is committed to doing our part to help curb climate change by reducing GHG emissions across our value chain. That’s why in early 2020, we signed the UN’s Business Ambition for 1.5C pledge, joining other leading companies in committing to set science-based emissions-reduction targets, across our entire value chain, aimed at limiting global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, while also developing a long-term strategy for achieving net-zero emissions by 2040. We recognize that achieving this ambition will require investing significantly in technologies and initiatives to not only reduce our greenhouse gas emissions but also remove carbon from the environment.

Our participation in 1t.org and our commitment to forest conservation and restoration is an important part of that effort. To help maximize the amount of carbon our world’s forests are able to capture, we’re working with a range of partners, from The Nature Conservancy, which is helping us conserve forests in and around key watersheds in the United States, to a coalition organized by the World Resources Institute to improve the monitoring and traceability of palm oil in Indonesia in order to further advance our commitment to no deforestation.

PepsiCo aims to address systemic issues facing communities and ecosystems in priority landscapes, including deforestation, land and workers’ rights, and economic viability.

For example, in the Aceh Tamiang district of Indonesia we are working with partners to restore 300 hectares of forests. We are also founding and development partners of Rimba Collective, which has 25-year project agreements aimed at protecting and restoring 500,000 hectares of tropical forests while directly benefiting 32,000 local people in forest-frontier communities, strengthening equitable livelihoods and providing a secure source of income. Rimba Collective’s project portfolio will initially focus on Indonesia, before expanding to projects across Southeast Asia.

We are committed to engaging in on-the-ground initiatives with industry, civil society, and others that support the transition to responsible production and play an active role in the wider transformation of the palm oil sector. These include both landscape projects that support conservation, restoration, community development, smallholder inclusion, responsible production practices, and issues-based programs that tackle specific challenges.

Under PepsiCo’s Positive Agriculture ambition to spread the adoption of these practices across 7 million acres, improve the livelihoods of over 250,000 people within our agriculture supply chain and communities, and sustainably sourcing 100% of our key ingredients, we are helping many of the thousands of smallholders we work with to implement our global policy on deforestation free supply chain. Our suppliers commit to No Deforestation, No Peatland Development, No Exploitation of communities, along with No conversion of High Carbon Stock (HCS) forests, and No conversion of High Conservation Value (HCV) Areas. In turn, we are supporting them by investing in capacity-building and conservation programs in collaboration with partners and external stakeholders including governments, civil society, and local communities.

Our ecologically and socially responsible approach

We have set standards for ourselves and our supply chain that match our ambition for a sustainable agricultural supply chain over the long term. In 2015, we publicly announced our goal to sustainably source potatoes, whole corn, oats, oranges, palm oil, and cane sugar for our business by 2020, and other priority crops that we don’t source directly from farmers by 2025. Building upon the progress made, in 2021 we announced a new, impact-driven Positive Agriculture ambition, setting 2030 goals to source crops and ingredients in a way that accelerates regenerative agriculture and strengthens farming communities.

This 2030 agenda includes a specific focus on:
- Spreading the adoption of regenerative farming practices across 7 million acres – approximately equal to 100 percent of the land used around the world to grow key crops and ingredients for the company’s products. These efforts are estimated to lead to a net-reduction of at least 3 million tons of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2030. Furthering nearly a decade of progress with its Sustainable Farming Program (SFP), PepsiCo will continue to collaborate with farmers across 60 countries to adopt practices that build resilience and improve and restore ecosystems. Through efforts with industry-leading partners, the company will expand regenerative agriculture programs to more than 500,000 acres of U.S. farmland by the end of 2021.
- Improving the livelihoods of more than 250,000 people in its agricultural supply chain and communities, including economically empowering women. PepsiCo will focus its work on the most vulnerable farming communities linked to its global value chain, including smallholder farmers and farm workers, women and minority farmers. The company will continue to advance this goal through diverse partnerships, including U.S. Agency for International Development, Inter-American Development Bank, CARE, National FFA Organization, and the National Black Growers Council.
- Sustainably sourcing 100 percent of key ingredients, expanding to include not only its grower-sourced crops (potatoes, whole corn, oats, and oranges), but also key crops from third parties, such as vegetable oils and grains.

PepsiCo will continue to advance these goals through diverse partnerships and stakeholder expertise on the ground to inform and accurately measure the results of our engagements.

PepsiCo depends on significant volumes of safe, high quality, and affordable agricultural raw materials to meet business demands as well as the expectations of key stakeholders. These expectations include demonstrating respect for land rights throughout our value chain.

Through our Sustainable Farming Program (SFP), we champion and advance positive social, environmental, and economic outcomes among the farmers from which we directly source crops. The SFP is designed to help boost agricultural productivity and extend availability of sustainably-sourced crops today, while contributing to long-term transformation across the agricultural system.

Through partnership and collaboration with suppliers, industry groups, and NGOs, we leverage two models to make progress toward our goal — verified volumes and continuous improvement.

PepsiCo is committed to sustainably sourcing 100 percent of the palm oil and cane sugar for our business by 2020 and this commitment will continue, going forward. These ingredients have long and complex supply chains, with farmers operating in challenging conditions. While these crops provide many benefits to people who enjoy our products, to growers and local communities, they are also sometimes associated with social and environmental challenges, such as deforestation, tenuous land rights, and labor issues.

Our approach for high-risk commodities such as these is based on:
- Building traceability through our supply chain to the mill and farm level;
- Assessing risk to our business, to people, and the planet in order to focus our efforts;
- Verifying compliance through credible third- party standards (primarily the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) and Bonsucro sugar cane standards);
- Engaging suppliers to build the capacity of our direct suppliers and those further down the supply chain;
- Investing and supporting on-the-ground projects to ensure farmers, including smallholders and communities, benefit from our actions; and
- Partnering and collaborating with peer companies, suppliers, civil society, and others to address long-term, systemic issues that cannot be tackled alone.

Our results tracking

Ecological metrics

Biodiversity, soil health

Social metrics

Community involvement, Improved livelihoods, jobs, economic community benefits

Our partners

The Nature Conservancy, IDH and Verified Sourcing Area, Leuser Conservation Forum, Aceh Tamiang Farmers and Fishermen Group Association (KTNA), Forest Management Unit (KPH) Region III Aceh, Oxfam, Proforest, conservation International, WWF, Walton Family Foundation, National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, Upper South Platte Partnership, Wells Fargo Foundation, MillerCoors, Denver Water, U.S. Forest Service, Colorado State Forest Service, American Forest Foundation, Coalition for the Upper South Platte, Jefferson Conservation District, and the Colorado Forest Restoration Institute, Clean Water Management Trust Fund, Ecosystem Enhancement Grant, Bat Conservation International, City of San Antonio, Bexar County, Department of Defense – Camp Bullis, Edwards Aquifer Authority, San Antonio Water System, and Private Individuals, IDH, Rimba Collective

Our locations

We are working at locations across Canada, Indonesia, Mexico, and United States of America (USA).

We are also working across other geographies.