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Kellogg joins with other consumer product companies, retailers to encourage sustainable behaviors

Earlier this year, our company took an important step forward in protecting our planet for current and future generations. With the launch of our inaugural Corporate Responsibility Report, we set a target of 15-20 percent reductions in energy use, greenhouse gas emissions, water use and waste per metric tonne of food produced by 2015, relative to 2005 baselines.

What is the Consumer Goods Forum?

The Consumer Goods Forum combines the functions of three former organizations with somewhat overlapping missions into a single, focused industry group. These three organizations include CIES, the Food Business Forum; the Global CEO Forum; and the Global Commerce Initiative.

The Consumer Goods Forum addresses best practices in global food retailing to ensure the safety and affordability of the worldwide food supply.

On Friday, we took yet another step forward to help protect our planet by joining retailers such as Tesco and Carrefour, and industry peers including Unilever, Procter & Gamble, Nestlé and Danone, in agreeing as a global company to principles and actions that will guide us in working together with the Sustainable Consumption Institute (SCI) to help promote climate change.

Established at The University of Manchester in the U.K., the Sustainable Consumption Institute is a multidisciplinary center that researches major national and international issues associated with environmental sustainability in the retail sector and encourages consumers to adopt more sustainable lifestyles.

SCI held its first major conference in London on Friday, Oct. 16, to officially mark the launch of the Institute. At the meeting, a group of Global Consumer Goods Forum member companies – including Kellogg – agreed to the importance of working together on climate change issues while also engaging and educating consumers about reducing their emissions and carbon footprint.
As a board member of the Consumer Goods Forum, President and CEO David Mackay says, "We must look beyond the impact that any one company in our industry can have. As a collective industry, we have the power to drive change and create sustainable solutions for issues that impact all of us and our consumers."

The principles and actions set forth at last week’s conference include taking a "life-cycle view" of our products, which includes considering every aspect of production from sourcing of raw materials to consumer use and disposal, to helping consumers reduce their own carbon emissions when using our products. We will also work with our industry peers to develop common metrics and ways to measure carbon usage.

Also at the conference, SCI launched a report on the important role of consumers and business in tackling climate change titled "Consumers, Business and Climate Change." The new report describes how consumers can be part of the solution to climate change and why sustainable consumption should be given greater attention in debates at the United Nations' Climate Change Summit in Copenhagen in December.

SCI was founded with financial support from Tesco – one of the largest retailers in the U.K. with stores throughout the world, including the U.S.

To learn more about SCI and to read the Consumers, Business and Climate Change" report, visit www.sci.manchester.ac.uk

Key findings from the "Consumers, Business and Climate Change" report

Emissions are largely influenced directly or indirectly by consumers all over the world.
The rise in emissions is escalating dramatically due to growing consumption combined with an expanding global population. As a result, there is a need to act quickly in order to find routes to low-carbon improvements.
Consumers are a key part of the solution in the fight against climate change, since they can change their behaviors voluntarily by seeking low-carbon products and services.
Research shows that consumers are willing to act but face common barriers, such as availability and price of low-carbon products, and lack of information.
Industry has a crucial role in helping consumers overcome those barriers by accelerating business response and introducing significant low carbon innovation by:
- Focusing on all stages of the supply chain (primary production, manufacturing, packaging, distribution, consumer use and disposal
- Developing internationally agreed measures of carbon content and impact of products
- Collaborating on emissions reductions at all stages in the supply chain
- Stimulating demand for low-carbon products through incentives, without consumers having to make trade-offs on performance or value
Consumers need to be empowered to make low-carbon choices by providing cheaper options and incentives, and providing information about the impact of their choices on climate change.