Louisville, Ky. — Yum! Brands, Inc. has released its annual Global Citizenship & Sustainability Report, highlighting the company’s strategic investments in socially responsible growth, risk management and stewardship of its people, food and impact on the planet. This includes addressing climate change, advancements in sustainable packaging and creating equity in the communities it serves.
“We delivered strong business results in 2021, demonstrating that focus on environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues is not incidental to growth, but an enabler of it,” says David Gibbs, CEO of Yum! Brands. “We continue to actively embed ESG considerations into our business strategy and adopt responsible business practices because it’s the right thing to do and fuels results.”
Yum!’s achievements included announcing science-based targets (SBTs) and launching key programs targeting reductions in its restaurants and supply chain, publishing a harmonized packaging policy across all four of its brands, and a first-of-its-kind education and research center to unlock opportunities in franchising for underrepresented people of color and women.
“Our environmental sustainability agenda marked a number of important milestones over the past year with the approval of our science-based targets and the launch of strategic programs around renewable energy in our restaurants and emissions efficiency in our supply chain, in addition to elevating our sustainable packaging work,” says Jon Hixson, chief sustainability officer and vice president of global government affairs at Yum!. “As we look ahead, there’s more work to do and we continue building on our strong foundation to keep making progress.”
Planet-healthy highlights from the new Global Citizenship & Sustainability Report include:
- Yum! announced SBTs to reduce greenhouse gas emissions nearly 50% by 2030 and set an ambition to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.
- Building on Yum!’s SBTs, joined the Supplier Leadership on Climate Transition, an emissions reduction training program for suppliers of beef, poultry and dairy in the U.S. and Canada.
- Entered a 2-year partnership between KFC U.K. & Ireland and the University of Liverpool’s Zero Carbon Research Institute (ZCRI) in which ZCRI researchers are examining KFC U.K. & Ireland restaurants to identify ways to become a net-zero business by 2040 and a circular, zero-waste business in food, packaging and materials by 2035.
- Committed to move all consumer-facing plastic packaging to be reusable, recyclable or compostable by 2025 across all brands as part of the new harmonized packaging policy.
For more information, visit www.yum.com/citizenship.
Yum! Brands, Inc., based in Louisville, Ky., has over 54,000 restaurants in more than 155 countries and territories, operating the company’s brands — KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell — global leaders of the chicken, pizza and Mexican-style food categories. The company’s family of brands also includes The Habit Burger Grill, a fast-casual restaurant concept.
SOURCE: Yum! Brands, Inc.