Starbucks Corp. says it will strive to become a resource-positive company that “gives more than it takes from the planet” in a comprehensive new pledge that encompasses both its supply chain and its operations.
Kevin Johnson, the Seattle-based coffee chain’s CEO, detailed the plans in a public letter to company stakeholders. The multifaceted initiative includes an effort to shift toward a more plant-based, environmentally friendly food menu — something the company said will help reduce its carbon footprint.
In its newly released Environmental Baseline Report, Starbucks revealed that in 2018, by far the largest contributor to its direct and indirect carbon footprint came from its dairy supply chain at 21 percent of carbon emissions. That was followed by coffee (11 percent), waste (9 percent), licensed store utilities (8 percent), food (7 percent) and other beverages (7 percent).
“Alternative milks will be a big part of the solution,” Johnson was quoted as saying in The Seattle Times.
The dairy and food categories were also significant contributors to the company’s total water footprint, the Environmental Baseline Report found. Within food, animal proteins were the highest contributors to both the carbon and water footprints.
A spokeswoman for Starbucks declined to comment specifically on its new efforts around sourcing food products more sustainably, but reiterated Johnson’s pledge that the effort “will require new innovations and creative ideas from entrepreneurs, non-profits, our suppliers, our licensees, our partners and our customers.”
Sara Brito, co-founder and president of Good Food 100 Media Network, which recognizes restaurants that commit to sustainable and socially responsible business practices, says she was encouraged by Starbucks’ latest announcement, including its focus on ingredients and its transparency.
“I applaud Starbucks Coffee Co. for explicitly outlining their new commitment to sustainability,” she tells Specialty Food News. “The production and distribution of ingredients is one of the largest contributors to a restaurant's carbon footprint. Multiply that by thousands of locations around the globe, and small changes in how they source ingredients can make a big impact.”
She says she is awaiting an update from Starbucks on its 2018 commitment to address animal welfare in the supply chain by 2020.
“Corporate commitments are a start, but actions speak much louder than words,” says Briton.
Taking on Single-Use Cups
Another significant element of Starbucks’ new pledge is the shift away from single-use packaging toward more reusable materials. Cup disposal has been a longstanding challenge for the cafe chain, which drives about 80 million kilograms (about 176 million pounds) of cups per year into the waste stream, according to its Environmental Impact Report.
In the letter, Johnson concedes that some previous pledges have fallen short of the company’s goals. The company in 2008 had set goals for reusability and recycling that he says “were largely dependent on radical changes in customer behavior.”
The effort failed, he says, due the lack of the kinds of “rigorous analysis, partnerships and investments” that had helped the company succeed in other goals, such as sourcing sustainable coffee and green building.
Starbucks’ latest pledge to reduce its cup waste follows “months of productive dialog” with As You Sow, a Berkeley, Calif.-based activist group that, along with Trillium Asset Management, had filed a shareholder proposal last year calling for Starbucks to serve 25 percent of its beverages in reusable containers and to start recycling packaging in developing markets. Similar proposals had also been filed in 2018 and for the 2020 fiscal year.
“We are pleased that Starbucks has heard the message that shareholders sent over the last three years and moved decisively to position the company to press for an eventual phase-out of single-use containers,” says Conrad MacKerron, senior vice president of As You Sow. “We look forward to working with the company as it follows through.
As You Sow seeks to promote environmental and social corporate responsibility through shareholder advocacy and other means.
Starbucks will also continue to support the NextGen Consortium, an organization it co-founded with McDonald’s Corp. that is seeking to encourage suppliers to redesign the fiber to-go cup and create a widely recyclable and/or compostable cup.
Starbucks’ efforts follow a recent pledge by smaller rival Blue Bottle Coffee to transition all of its stores to zero waste by the end of this year, which will include aggressive measures to curb the use of single-use cups.
In addition to shifting toward more plant-based foods and away from single-use cups, other aspects of Starbucks’ new sustainability effort include:
- Investing in innovative and regenerative agricultural practices, reforestation, forest conservation, and water replenishment in Starbucks’ supply chain;
- Investing in better ways to manage waste, both in Starbucks stores and in its communities, to ensure more reuse, recycling, and elimination of food waste;
- Innovating to develop more eco-friendly stores, operations, manufacturing and delivery.
“Today, more than ever, the world needs leadership in environmental sustainability,” Johnson said in the letter. “We agree with the consensus of scientific experts who note that without drastic action from everyone – governments, companies and all of us as individuals – adapting to the impact of climate change in the future will be far more difficult and costly, taking a toll on our supply chains, our business, and more importantly, the lives of everyone involved, including coffee farmers, our suppliers, Starbucks partners, customers and every community we serve.”
He set three preliminary targets for 2030:
- A 50 percent reduction in carbon emissions in Starbucks’ direct operations and supply chain.
- Fifty percent of water withdrawal for direct operations and coffee production will be conserved or replenished with a focus on communities and basins with high water risk.
- A 50 percent reduction in waste sent to landfill from stores and manufacturing, driven by a broader shift toward a circular economy. To that end, the company said it has signed the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s New Plastics Economy Global Commitment, which seeks to eliminate unnecessary plastics from the environment through product innovation and recycling.
Starbucks said the new sustainability initiative would be a work in progress, and it plans to formalize its 2030 sustainability goals in 2021 as it marks its 50th anniversary.
“The coming year will involve comprehensive market research and trials to better understand consumer behavior and incentives to encourage more use of reusable containers,” the company said in a statement.
Several other groups have also issued statements of support for Starbucks’ latest initiative, including the World Wildlife Fund, the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, SustainAbility, Conservation International, and McDonough Innovation.
Related: Starbucks Expands Delivery Service; Starbucks to Open Location Dedicated to Mobile Orders.
Photo: Starbucks
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