Purchase-based PepsiCo, Inc. this morning announced plans to switch to renewable sources of electricity in all of its company owned and controlled operations around the world by 2030 and require that all of its franchise and third-party operations meet the 100%-renewable goal by 2040.
PepsiCo said that last year it achieved the use of 100%-renewable electricity in its U.S. operations.
PepsiCo said it expects to achieve 100% renewable electricity in Mexico and Australia in 2021, which would bring its use of renewable-sourced electricity to 60% across its global operations.
At the same time, PepsiCo said it is going to do more to reduce greenhouse emissions, targeting an additional 40% reduction by 2030 to help it achieve zero emissions by 2040.
PepsiCo said that the move should result in the reduction of more than 26 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions or the equivalent of taking more than 5 million cars off the road for a full year.
Ramon Laguarta, PepsiCo”™s chairman and CEO said, “The severe impacts from climate change are worsening and we must accelerate the urgent systemic changes needed to address it. Climate action is core to our business as a global food and beverage leader. There is simply no other option but immediate and aggressive action.”
PepsiCo points out that it operates in more than 200 countries and territories around the world and has approximately 260,000 employees. It says that agriculture accounts for approximately 33% of its emissions and is one of the areas on which it will concentrate in its program to reduce greenhouse gas production. It also plans to reduce the use of virgin plastic and increase the use of recycled content in its packaging.
It reports finalizing agreements with renewable energy company Ørsted for two new wind generation projects in Texas and Nebraska. It says the new wind farms will generate the equivalent of nearly 25% of PepsiCo’s total U.S. electricity needs.
