One Year in, PepsiCo Reports Progress Against Performance With Purpose 2025 Goals

Sep 19, 2017 4:00 PM ET

One Year in, PepsiCo Reports Progress Against Performance With Purpose 2025 Goa…

PURCHASE, N.Y., September 19, 2017 /3BL Media/ - PepsiCo (NYSE: PEP) reported progress towards its ambitious Performance with Purpose 2025 Agenda sustainability goals, announced last year. The company improved performance against goals in each of the Agenda's three focus areas – Products, Planet and People – while returning over $7 billion cash to shareholders during the same year.

In its latest Sustainability Report, PepsiCo also reasserted its aspiration to deliver sustainable change across the company, its value chain, the food and beverage industry, and the wider world through Performance with Purpose.

"Last year, we doubled down on Performance with Purpose, our vision to deliver top-tier financial results over the long term in a way that's responsive to the needs of the world around us," said Indra K. Nooyi, PepsiCo Chairman and CEO. "Since then, we've been working hard to advance our 2025 Agenda, from making more nutritious products, to limiting our environmental footprint, to empowering people and the communities where we do business. As this year's Report shows, we are making real, meaningful progress all over the world."

Highlights from PepsiCo's 2016 Sustainability Report include:

  • Products: PepsiCo reduced added sugars, saturated fat and sodium in its beverage and snacks portfolio volume in 2016, compared to 2015 baselines[1]. The company also continued to move its business towards more nutritious products, increasing net revenue from its Everyday Nutrition portfolio to 27% of the company's total and delivering more than 260 million servings of nutritious foods to communities in need.
     
  • Planet: PepsiCo reached one-quarter of its 2025 goal for annual water replenishment, with approximately 2.7 billion liters locally replenished in high-water-risk watersheds. It also worked with the PepsiCo Foundation and partners to reach more than 2 million people with safe water access in 2016 alone (bringing the total to 11 million people between 2006 and 2016).
     
  • People: Through its expanded Sustainable Farming Initiative, PepsiCo engaged with farmers who grow 34% of the crops it sources directly. This program helps growers and their communities get more out of the work they put in while reducing water usage and greenhouse gas emissions. In 2016, PepsiCo also increased female representation among its management to 38% and empowered 6 million women and girls through investments in local communities (reaching nearly 50% of its 2025 goal).

While critical progress has been made across the Performance with Purpose 2025 Agenda goals, Mehmood Khan, PepsiCo Vice Chairman and Chief Scientific Officer, Global Research and Development, emphasized that coordinated action at scale is vital in addressing interrelated challenges in public health and nutrition, climate change, resource scarcity and human rights.

"The global food system is at an inflection point," he said. "The vast network of farmers, traders, processors, suppliers, manufacturers and retailers that feed our world must embrace change. This year, I have been inspired by the response to our new Performance with Purpose goals. We understand that there is much more to be done to achieve our objectives, but we also know that, by working together, we will succeed in creating a healthier and more sustainable future for us all."

PepsiCo has also announced steps to increase transparency and enhance access to key information regarding Performance with Purpose and the sustainability issues of importance to its stakeholders. The company has launched a new, interactive A–Z Topics on pepsico.com. This replaces the separate Global Reporting Initiative Report published in previous years and provides easily navigable and regularly updated information about PepsiCo's policies, programs, governance and performance against its 2025 Agenda goals.

About PepsiCo

PepsiCo products are enjoyed by consumers one billion times a day in more than 200 countries and territories around the world. PepsiCo generated approximately $63 billion in net revenue in 2016, driven by a complementary food and beverage portfolio that includes Frito-Lay, Gatorade, Pepsi-Cola, Quaker and Tropicana. PepsiCo's product portfolio includes a wide range of enjoyable foods and beverages, including 22 brands that generate more than $1 billion each in estimated annual retail sales.

At the heart of PepsiCo is Performance with Purpose – our fundamental belief that the success of our company is inextricably linked to the sustainability of the world around us. We believe that continuously improving the products we sell, operating responsibly to protect our planet and empowering people around the world is what enables PepsiCo to run a successful global company that creates long-term value for society and our shareholders. For more information, visit www.pepsico.com.

Cautionary Statement

This release contains statements reflecting our views about our future performance that constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements are generally identified through the inclusion of words such as "aim," "anticipate," "believe," "drive," "estimate," "expect," "goal," "intend," "may," "plan," "project," "strategy," "target" and "will" or similar statements or variations of such terms and other similar expressions. Forward-looking statements inherently involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those predicted in such statements, including changes in demand for PepsiCo's products, changes in, or failure to comply with, applicable laws and regulations, imposition or proposed imposition of new or increased taxes, imposition of labeling or warning requirements on PepsiCo's products, changes in law related to packaging and disposal of PepsiCo's products, PepsiCo's ability to compete effectively and the other factors discussed in the risk factors section of PepsiCo's most recent annual report on Form 10-K and subsequent reports on Forms 10-Q and 8-K. Investors are cautioned not to place undue reliance on any such forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date they are made. PepsiCo undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

[1] Across PepsiCo's top ten beverage and food markets globally.