TreeHouse Foods Unveils Multi-Pronged ESG Plan

Private label food and beverage supplier TreeHouse Foods has unveiled its 2030 Environmental, Social & Governance (ESG) goals with a focus on three strategic pillars; Environment & Climate, People & Communities, and Products & Operations.

Additionally, the company has published its 2023 disclosures in accordance with the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) Processed Food standard and the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosure (TCFD) framework. 

According to the company, the new 2030 ESG goals demonstrate TreeHouse Foods' ongoing commitment to environmental and social responsibility as it undergoes a strategic shift following the October 2022 divestiture of a significant portion of its Meal Preparation business. The transaction simplified the company, sharpening focus on its higher-growth, higher-margin private label snacking and beverage categories, and meaningfully reduced TreeHouse’s manufacturing and distribution footprint. 

With this increased agility, the company has announced a number of environmental impact-related goals, including reducing its Scope 1 and Scope 2 carbon footprint by 25% by 2030, and setting a reduction target for Scope 3 emissions by the end of 2025. TreeHouse has also set goals around sustainable packaging and responsible sourcing, aligning with the ESG objectives of many of its customers.

"Advancing our ESG initiatives continues to be a top priority for TreeHouse and I am pleased to share our updated goals for 2030," said Steve Oakland, chairman, CEO and president. "Our progress against these goals will benefit more than our environment and our communities – it will also strengthen our strategic partnerships with our customers on similar ESG journeys, as we strive to bring our customers' ESG goals to life."

Equity in the workforce is another priority for the company. Along with the commitment to publicly disclose workforce data by 2030, the company has also announced its intention to expand recruiting efforts to attract and hire diverse talent.

TreeHouse's ESG goals include:

Environment & Climate

• Reduce Scope 1 & 2 GHG emissions by 25% by 2030
• Assess baseline Scope 3 calculations and establish reduction goal by 2025
• Reduce water usage across manufacturing facilities by 20% by 2030
• Reduce Food Loss & Waste by 50% by 2030
• Increase company-wide landfill diversion to 90% by 2030
• By 2030, have 100% of packaging be recyclable, reusable, or compostable
• Eliminate problematic and unnecessary plastics in packaging where feasible by 2025
• Continue to maintain at least 20% post-consumer recycled content average across all packaging

People & Communities

• Reduce Total Recordable Incident Rate (TRIR) by 20% by 2030 to continue towards the goal of zero incidents
• The company said it strives to have its workforce be representative of the communities in which its operates, and the customers and consumers who purchase its products by:
  • Conducting annual DEI training by 2024 for all employees
  • Providing intentional learning and development programming for our employees
  • Expanding recruiting efforts by partnering with community, academic, and professional organizations to attract and hire diverse talent
  • Working to provide transparent internal mobility processes to enable robust career growth
  • Disclosing EEO-1 data by 2030 and annually thereafter
• Donate $50 million in volunteer time, food, and/or cash to organizations focused on alleviating food insecurity in local communities by 2030

Products & Operations

• Direct source 100% RSPO physical certified palm oil by 2030
• Increase offerings of third-party certified responsibly sourced cocoa by 2030
• Update its Responsible Sourcing Policy to include the following:
  • Animal Welfare expectations
  • Supplier Diversity acknowledgement and commitment to increase spend with diverse suppliers
  • GFSI expectation for ingredient and food contact suppliers
• Roll out annual ESG supplier survey and scorecard for strategic suppliers

To access the 2023 ESG disclosures and for more information, visit the ESG page on the TreeHouse Foods website at https://www.treehousefoods.com/esg.