ofi Unveils Long-Range Sustainability Goals
With several factors related to sustainability driving increased consumer demand for eco-friendly products, retailers and product suppliers are pressured to meet these ever-changing needs.
On the supply side, ofi has released its “Choices For Changes” sustainability strategy that sets what the company said are “ambitious targets” for 2030.
“Choices for Change is the next phase in our journey, building upon and reinforcing years of experience in managing sustainability programs spanning hundreds of farming communities,” said Roel van Poppel, chief sustainability officer for ofi. “Our team of over 500 sustainability experts from Côte d’Ivoire to Brazil, from Vietnam to Ghana, bring a deep understanding of and capability to solve some of the key environmental and humanitarian challenges in the food system. We offer our customers and partners the traceability, insights, capability, and choices to drive positive change.”
With “Choices for Change,” ofi officials said the company is focused on delivering long-term impact across four critical pillars: Prosperous Farmers, Thriving Communities, Climate Action, and Regenerating the Living World.
Highlights of the company’s sustainability plan include:
- Delivering enhanced livelihood support to one million farmers, helping them to be more productive and deliver better quality ingredients.
- Cutting scope 3 emissions by 30% to offer customers verifiable, low-carbon products and ingredients and contribute to net-zero commitments.
- Bringing 2 million hectares of land under regenerative farming practices to create long-term farm resilience and products with verified positive natural impact.
To give customers more rigorous, verifiable data for sustainability decision-making and reporting, the strategy incorporates a focus on the company’s supply chain. This brings traceability, data insights, risk mitigation, verification, and in-depth supplier engagement together to enable the right choices and includes ofi’s suite of award-winning tech tools like AtSource - the sustainability management system and its built-in Carbon Scenario Planner for planning and costing climate action.
ofi’s global product platforms - cocoa, coffee, dairy, nuts, and spices - already have specific strategies or programs to address the challenges and opportunities of each product supply chain. These strategies will be integral to delivering the targets under “Choices for Change,” which seeks to consolidate a single set of ambitions to be implemented globally, with universal metrics and definitions for all of ofi’s operations across approximately 50 countries, company officials said.
It will be delivered in partnership with farmers, governments, civil society, and ofi’s customers – including many of the world’s largest food retailers, brands, and manufacturers.
“We know that doing what’s right for communities and the planet is even more critical to our long-term commercial imperative to deliver the highest quality of food ingredients and solutions to our customers,” said A. Shekhar, CEO of ofi. “It equips them with a powerful provenance narrative for their consumers, the people who enjoy delicious, high-quality, and sustainable food and beverage products every day around the world.”