Santa Paula, California-based Calavo Growers has announced its new sustainability strategy and 2030 goals.
The company’s strategy is designed to focus its efforts on the environmental, social and governance issues that matter most, such as climate action, social responsibility, sustainable agriculture and sound governance.
“ESG is a top priority for our customers, employees and our investors,” said Brian Kocher, president and CEO.
“By publicly committing to these goals, Calavo is announcing that we’re ready to meet the challenges ahead and committed to doing our part to transform the food industry into something truly sustainable. I’m very excited that we operate a company and within an industry where our ESG goals are completely aligned with our business initiatives and investments to drive customer and shareholder value.”
While Calavo will continue to align its sustainability reporting with the industry standards set out by the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board, the new ESG strategy places emphasis on four key areas:
Climate action:
- Reduce Calavo’s carbon footprint by 50 percent by 2030 (against a 2022 baseline) across Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions;
- Achieve carbon neutrality for Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 2027; and
- Reduce food waste by 50 percent by 2030 (against a 2022 baseline).
Social responsibility:
- By the end of 2024, identify opportunities for community partnerships (based on community needs) at all of Calavo’s locations; and
- By 2025, invest in multi-year partnerships with community organizations at each Calavo location, with a total minimum commitment of $1.5 million.
Sustainable agriculture:
- By 2030, ensure 100 percent of its growers are engaged in Calavo’s sustainability program;
- By 2025, validate that 100 percent of its packaging is recyclable, reusable or industrially compostable, and
- By 2030, migrate at least 50 percent of its packaging components to recycled content (by volume).
Sound governance
- By 2025, integrate ESG into its financial filings;
- By 2025, ensure its ESG disclosures are independently assured and/or verified; and
- By 2025, integrate ESG into its enterprise risk management systems.
To support the new strategy and goals, Calavo is revamping its sustainability reporting cycle to align with its fiscal year, to better integrate ESG and financial disclosures. The company also is launching a new internal ESG data management system, which will aid in providing auditable, verifiable ESG metrics and reporting history.
Together, with oversight from the sustainability and corporate responsibility committee of the board of directors, these investments in ESG governance will enable industry-leading sustainability performance.
