CORPORATE ENVIRONMENTAL BEHAVIOR
AND ITS IMPACT ON BRAND
“How can organizations be more environmentally responsible?”
the firm’s U.S. fleet uses flexible fuels such as ethanol,
reducing the amount of gas needed each year, and
the company is piloting hybrid vehicles for even
greater savings.
Packaging. The more a product weighs, the more
it costs to ship. And for companies that ship millions
of products each year, reducing packaging translates
to huge savings. That’s why one retailer of bathroom
tissue and paper towels worked with its suppliers to
eliminate the plastic wrap around individual rolls; it now
sells one package that contains multiple rolls. The result:
The retailer eliminated 89.5 million cardboard roll cores
and 360,087 pounds of plastic wrapping that went into
59%
55%
OF RESPONDEN TS
43%
Launch Use Invest in
recycling environmentally water/waste/
programs friendly emissions
materials reduction
Source: Tandberg/Ipsos MORI
KRAFT FOODS: HELPING REPLENISH
THE WORLD’S FOOD SUPPLY
From reducing the amount of packaging material used in product design to
finding innovative ways to save energy, Kraft Foods (a 2008 DiversityInc 25
Noteworthy Company) has been addressing sustainability initiatives for more
than 25 years. In 2007, the company took its commitment to the next level and increased its focus to
enable a more strategic approach within the company
and in the communities where it does business.
In February, Kraft Foods and other industry, government and non-governmental partners joined with
the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to pledge a total
of $90 million over five years to double the income
of 200,000 African cocoa farmers and increase the income of 150,000 cashew
farmers by 50 percent. In addition to contributing money, Kraft Foods will also
provide employee expertise during each phase of the project.
“By lending direct support at the farm level and forward, Kraft Foods can
help address the cycle of poverty and hunger that undermines the viability of
the communities where we source our raw materials,” says Steve Yucknut, vice
president of sustainability. Support includes:
• Modern Farming Training. Program participants will learn seed-selection, irrigation, fertilization and crop-rotation techniques that will increase
their yields while renewing the soil. Farmers will also be taught how to get
more value from their crops. The cashew nut, for example, is attached to a
cashew apple that can be turned into juice.
• Infrastructure Development. The cashew program will help bring
much needed modernization. Currently, as much as 40 percent of West Africa’s
harvested cashew crop never makes it to market because of inadequate packaging, storage and transport. Cashews grown in West Africa are also shipped to
India and Southeast Asia to be shelled because there are too few shelling plants
there. “The cashew warehouses and shelling facilities will create jobs in Africa,”
says Yucknut, “and they’ll eliminate that extra transportation.”
He adds: “Caring for the land that provides the food we eat has to be proactively managed—and that’s in Kraft Foods’ best interest.”
landfills anually. Meanwhile, it now fits more
units on a truck, reducing diesel consumption
by 53,966 gallons per year.
On the consumer side, there’s a push to
help lower the expenses of those most in
need through environmentalism. The World
Economic Forum recently stated: “We need
to ensure that green products are not luxury
items, but can be bought by those on a tight
budget.” That’s why several retailers and
some utility companies have partnered with
regional energy alliances and local governments to discount the price of compact
fluorescent light bulbs, which consume 75
percent less energy to produce the same
amount of light as an incandescent bulb.
Utility companies are also stepping up to
the plate to offer free or discounted home-energy audits to identify ways consumers can
plug leaks and weatherize their homes to
save money; some are also partnering with
nonprofits to help elderly homeowners save
through energy efficiency.
Building the
Green-Collar Work Force
An energy-driven economy will require
newly skilled employees, ranging from soft-
ware programmers who can develop applica-
tions to monitor energy usage to technicians
who can install solar panels and service wind
turbines to mechanics who can repair hybrid
vehicles. Filling these green-collar jobs will
open up opportunities for employees from
underserved communities. “For the green
economy to succeed, we’re going to have
