Boston, January 23, 2019 – Green Century collaborated with Aramark to develop a robust no-deforestation commitment to be implemented by 2025. Aramark, one of the world’s largest food service providers, serves nearly 2 billion meals each year.“Aramark was very responsive to our concerns about deforestation,” said Green Century Shareholder Advocate Jessye Waxman. “This commitment will help protect Aramark’s competitiveness and the environment, and is a great first step in an ongoing collaboration.”
“We have a long-standing commitment to advancing sustainable sourcing practices in a way that minimizes impacts to people, animals, and the environment; we are proud to announce our commitment to address deforestation in our supply chain by 2025,” said Aramark Vice President of Sustainability Kathy Cacciola. “We constantly evaluate our priorities to identify the most significant environmental and social issues and as we learn from our experiences in the U.S. we strive to advance responsible sourcing practices across our global supply chain.”
Aramark agreed to develop and implement a deforestation policy that addresses “No Deforestation, No Peat, No Exploitation” (NDPE) sourcing practices, including legal deforestation. In 2019, Aramark will perform a supply chain assessment to better understand its forest-related risks across all geographies within its supply chain.
Aramark also will complete its transition to 100% sustainably sourced soy and palm oil by only sourcing from suppliers certified by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) by June 30, 2019. It agreed to enhance its transparency by providing regular and public updates on its no-deforestation progress, as well.
The conversion of tropical forests to agricultural plantations is the primary cause of deforestation, which is a leading contributor to climate change. Forest destruction contributes more annual, global greenhouse-gas emissions than the entire transportation sector. Deforestation also poses a risk to the preservation of biodiversity and the maintenance of healthy ecosystems.
Contact: Kyle W. Kempf, Green Century Capital Management, kkempf@greencentury.com, (617) 482-0800
Source: Green Century Commends Aramark for No-Deforestation Commitment, Following Green Century Engagement (Green Century Capital Management, Jan. 23, 2019)
