PepsiCo’s ESG Summary tracks the company’s ambitious pep+ goals

Rolling out a fleet of electric trucks, introducing a fully compostable bag made with plant-based materials, advancing low-cost water-saving irrigation technology for farmers across the world. These are just a few of the steps PepsiCo is taking to deliver on its pep+ (PepsiCo Positive) agenda — industry-leading commitments that drive positive action for the planet and people.

Launched last year, pep+ is embedded in every part of PepsiCo’s business with targets in areas that include sourcing crops and ingredients in more sustainable ways that strengthen farming communities, building a circular and inclusive value chain and inspiring people through our brands.

“At PepsiCo, we recognize that the future of our company, communities and planet are all inextricably linked,” says PepsiCo Chairman and CEO Ramon Laguarta. “We can help define for the world what it means to be a truly sustainable company.”

To chart the progress of its ambitious goals, PepsiCo is evolving its Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) reporting, from its prior Sustainability Reports to its first ESG Summary. The report details the company’s sustainability ambitions and progress with real-world examples of how PepsiCo’s brands, people and scale are creating measurable positive change.

Here are some highlights of the report:

PepsiCo has collaborated with farmers to apply regenerative agriculture practices across more than 345,000 acres in the U.S. and Canada — advancing towards its ultimate goal of 7 million acres, approximately the equivalent of PepsiCo’s entire agricultural footprint, by 2030.

Via initiatives such as the $20 million USAID partnership to promote women-led enterprises, the company is working toward a new pep+ ambition to improve livelihoods of more than 250,000 people in PepsiCo’s agricultural supply chain and communities.

With a target of improving water-use efficiency by 25% in high water-risk areas by 2025, the company reports reaching 18% improvement¹ (against a 2015 baseline) and has replenished more than 6.1 billion liters of water back into local watersheds in 2021. In addition, PepsiCo continued to advance safe water access globally to more than 68 million people since 2006, with a goal of reaching 100 million people by 2030.

When it comes to supporting associates, in the U.S., PepsiCo increased Black managerial representation to 8.3 percent and Hispanic managerial representation to 9.5 percent, as the company works to achieve 10 percent representation for each by 2025. Additionally, the company has achieved 43 percent of women in managerial roles against the goal of 50 percent globally by 2025.

And in the efforts to inspire people to make positive choices, four years ahead of schedule, in 2021, PepsiCo attained its saturated fat reduction goal of 75%² of the company’s convenient foods portfolio not exceeding 1.1 grams of saturated fat per 100 Calories (based on the top 23 convenient foods markets). The company made headway on sodium reduction targets with 66%³ of PepsiCo’s convenient foods portfolio not exceeding 1.3 milligrams of sodium per Calorie. And 53% of the company’s beverage portfolio (in the top 26 beverage markets) now has less than or equal to 100 Calories from added sugars per 12oz. serving.

"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 have made in 2021 toward our new and updated pep+ goals," said Jim Andrew, PepsiCo Chief Sustainability Officer. "Our aim is 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 realize a more sustainable future."

Read the full Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Summary here.

^1,2,3Results reflect the exclusion of Hangzhou Haomusi Food Co., Ltd. (Be & Cheery)