General Mills: Environmental Responsibility

By setting goals that push the company to do more, we demonstrate leadership in establishing aggressive goals within the food industry. 

For example, because we set goals: 

  • General Mills burns oat hulls left over from the milling process to reduce one of our plant's carbon footprints by about 21 percent. 
  • We have an irrigation process that uses 50 percent less water than conventional furrow irrigation, and also reduces electricity and pesticide use. 

Our fact sheets contain these and other interesting details. 

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Responsible Production & Consumption

On Track to Sustainably Source Oats
Our beloved Cheerios were named Cheeri-Oats when they launched in 1941. So you know that oats have been at the core of our business for a long time. Dating back to 1928, in fact.

Today, nearly four years into our commitment to sustainably source our ingredients, we are well on our way – particularly with oats.

As a global food company, our business depends on quality ingredients being grown and available to us every year. We see the ingredients we buy as a way to be transparent about where and how crops for General Mills foods are grown. So, in 2013, we set out to sustainably source 100 percent of our ten priority ingredients by 2020.

Environment

Feeding Ourselves Thirsty Report – Water Stewardship Work Recognized
Water stewardship is an integral part of General Mills' efforts to continually reduce the environmental impact of our operations, including the impact that occurs upstream of our own facilities.

Agriculture uses 70 percent of global freshwater withdrawals; therefore, General Mills has made it a priority to see that collaborative watershed protection plans are developed in regions where the company’s footprint intersects high water risk.

Environment

General Mills Foundation & The Nature Conservancy
Healthy soil is crucial for growing food and is a powerful and natural lever to reduce the impact of climate change. So that future generations have enough food, the General Mills Foundation is supporting The Nature Conservancy’s road map to help improve soil health.

Responsible Production & Consumption

Connecting the Dots on Biodiversity and Agriculture
Companies — particularly food companies — have a role to play in promoting biodiversity in agriculture.

Environment

General Mills Continues Clean Energy Leadership; Signs Wind Power Agreement
General Mills has taken another step toward its climate goal with the signing of a virtual 15-year power purchase agreement with Renewable Energy Systems (RES) for 100-megawatts (MW) of its Cactus Flats wind project. The wind project will produce renewable energy credits for General Mills that can be applied toward the company’s greenhouse gas emission reduction goals. During the peak of construction, the project will create about 250 jobs in the clean energy workforce.

Environment

Protecting Worker Bees Around the World
General Mills has worked to protect and restore pollinator habitat dating back to 2011 in the U.S., and most recently made a $2 million, five-year commitment to pollinators in partnership with the USDA and Xerces Society, which was matched by the USDA.

We didn’t stop there.

Responsible Business & Employee Engagement

A Sustainability Intrapraneurship Story at General Mills Canada: Jessica Kirshenblat-Gooderham
When Jess started at General Mills as a sales rep almost a decade ago, there were no sustainability teams or green initiatives. Fast forward to today, Jess is the leader of a thriving employee-led team of sustainability minded professionals- a.k.a the General Mills Canada Sustainability Team.

Responsible Production & Consumption

Food and Conservation Groups Invest in Soil to Sustain Food Production
A national effort to enhance farm sustainability through soil health has additional backing from a major consumer foods manufacturer. Leaders from General Mills, The Nature Conservancy, the Soil Health Institute and the Soil Health Partnership announce a collaborative effort to advance soil health on America’s farms and ranches, paving the way for measurable economic and environmental gains for farmers, businesses and communities for generations to come.

Environment

It’s Time to Bee Better
Oregon Tilth and the Xerces Society have created Bee Better, a new certification designed to encourage a pollinator-friendly approach to agriculture and meet consumer demand for increased transparency and environmental responsibility from food producers.

Environment

Here's the Buzz on Häagen-Dazs' Plan to Protect Honeybees
Last week, a few journalists, a farmer, an entomologist and an ice cream man drove two hours southeast from Oakland to Chowchilla, California. It’s an in-between place most people never will visit — the neighborhood bar is a lonely box with one window — but if you’ve eaten an almond in the United States, you depend upon this community. Its riches are rooted in nature.

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