Tropical fruit company Fyffes has published its first-ever sustainability report and committed to 13 related targets, including a major reduction in its greenhouse gas emissions.
The company said its sustainability strategy would focus on four areas – environmental stewardship, healthy living, helping people, and responsible business.
It also noted that its targets were all aligned to eight of the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals, namely: 2 – Zero Hunger; 4 – Quality Education; 5 – Gender Equality; 6 – Clean Water and Sanitation; 8 – Decent Work and Economic Growth; 9 – Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure; 12 – Responsible Consumption and Production; and 13 – Climate Action.
Julie Cournoyer, global director of sustainability at Fyffes, is responsible for setting out the company’s sustainability strategy.
She commented: “I am proud to present our first sustainability report, which highlights the progress and efforts made since we announced our Global Sustainability Strategy in 2018.
“I would like to emphasise the tremendous efforts of the Global Sustainability Steering Committee and countless others across the company who have collaborated to deliver our sustainability strategy.
“Recent global events have brought into clear focus the increasing need for companies to contribute to a sustainable future and I am confident Fyffes is set up to meet those challenges thanks to the commitment to our sustainability goals.”
Helge Sparsoe, who succeeded David McCann as Fyffes’ chief executive in the summer of 2020, welcomed the report’s publication.
“I joined Fyffes in 2020 during one of the most challenging times in our company’s proud 130-year history,” he said. “I have been impressed by the resilience demonstrated by our people who have continued to come to work every day to harvest, pack, transport and ripen our fruit so that it can be enjoyed all over the world.”
He added: “I would particularly like to call out the six targets that relate to our people and our growers. Our business is our people and taking care of our people, ensuring their wellbeing and safety is our priority.”
Science-Based Targets
One of Fyffes’ new targets is to achieve the Science Based Targets initiative’s 1.5° Celsius scenario by 2025, representing a 25 per cent reduction in CO2 equivalent per kilo of fruit for Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions respectively, and a proportion of Scope 3 emissions.
All of its packaging will be compostable, recyclable, or reusable by 2025, it said, while 100 per cent of its own operations will have water management plans in place by the same year.
“Fyffes will measure the ongoing reduction and replacement of agrochemicals with sustainable alternatives so we can set a target by 2024; define soil management framework and target by 2024; and undertake a climate change impact assessment on 100 per cent of Fyffes supply chain,” the company added.
As part of its Healthy Food for Healthy Lives project, Fyffes said it wanted to reduce food loss by 80 per cent in all of its own operations, and to develop one new application for each of its core products, both by 2030.
By 2025, it committed to provide five million healthy meals to people in vulnerable groups via qualified partners, and to teach three million people how to eat healthily and minimise food waste.
Elsewhere among its sustainability targets, it promised to eliminate work-related fatalities and injuries, to provide all employees with human rights training, to identify wage discrepancies, to improve gender equality, and to invest in socio-economic and climate-resistance projects among its producer communities.
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