Resolved clauseShareholders request Kraft Heinz’s Board of Directors issue a report, at reasonable expense and excluding confidential information, within a year and updated annually thereafter, on its climate transition plan to align its operations and value chain with the Paris Agreement’s ambition of limiting global temperature increase to 1.5°C, including short- medium- and long-term science-based greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets for Kraft Heinz’s full carbon footprint (scope 1, 2, and 3), and how capital allocation plans align with the climate transition plans, where relevant.
Supporting statementIn 2018, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) advised that greenhouse gas emissions must be reduced by 45% by 2030 and reach net zero by 2050 in order to limit warming to 1.5°C, prevent the worst consequences of climate change, and meet the Paris Agreement goals. At the United Nations Climate Change Conference of Parties (COP 26), world leaders signed the Declaration on Forests and Land Use committing to end forest loss and land degradation by 2030.1 Climate change poses environmental and social harms and presents significant risks to food companies and their supply chains. As it worsens, it will exacerbate biodiversity loss, ecosystem instability, and threaten global access to food. Companies must act rapidly to reduce emissions in line with science-based goals, as recent studies show that limiting warming below 1.5°C is now extremely unlikely. According to the IPCC, agriculture, forestry, and other land use change is responsible for 23 percent of total net anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions, nearly half of which is attributable to deforestation. The majority of these emissions are embedded in the production of key agricultural commodities, and fall under scope 3, or indirect, emissions from the supply chain for companies that source, manufacture, distribute, and sell agricultural or food products. Restoring and protecting landscapes and forests is critical, and the role of Indigenous peoples, including respect for their rights, needs careful attention. As one of the world’s largest food and beverage companies, Kraft Heinz sources commodities that have high carbon footprints, including sugar, palm, dairy, cocoa, and beef, which are among the leading drivers of deforestation and land use change globally. Kraft Heinz notes in its CDP report that roughly 80% of our total carbon footprint is produced from our suppliers, particularly in agriculture. Kraft Heinz has assessed its soy supply chain, committed to source sustainable and traceable palm oil, and to responsibly source tomatoes.2 However, Kraft Heinz has not disclosed a climate transition plan and has failed to set the science-based greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets it first announced in 2018, though now states it will set in 2023. It does not disclose how it is aligning its business model, supplier and partner engagement, and capital allocation with a 1.5°C scenario. Kraft Heinz is falling behind peers, including PepsiCo which committed to source 7 million acres using regenerative agriculture practices. General Mills, Mondelez, and Kellogg’s have set emissions reduction targets covering their entire value chains.