Dean Foods Sets New 2020 Environmental Sustainability Goals

Goals are expansion of 2013 environmental roadmap, align with dairy industry timing.

18 July 2012 -- Dean Foods has announced a revised set of environmental sustainability goals to better define its environmental impact and increase transparency. The new 2020 goals expand the company's focus to more areas of sustainability, align with the broader dairy industry timing for greenhouse gas reductions, and better reflect customer expectations and consumer demands.

The goals are a revision of the company's previous 2013 Environmental Roadmap, which called for reductions in greenhouse gases (20 percent), water usage (30 percent), and solid waste (30 percent). The original goals have been expanded, adding more achievable timelines and greater detail on energy usage, distribution fleet emissions, and recycling. The company will also set new goals for zero-waste plants, packaging, and sustainable supply by the end of 2013.

The expansion aligns with the Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy's comprehensive industry goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions 25 percent by 2020. At its current pace, the company would miss its 2013 greenhouse gas and water goals due to unforeseen volume declines and more water-intensive processes from an expanding product portfolio, a common occurrence across the food industry. At the same time, the company has reduced solid waste 21 percent, increased recycling by more than 50 percent, and exceeded – two years early – a key sub-goal of reducing distribution fleet carbon dioxide equivalent emissions by 50,000 metric tons. The new 2020 goals create aggressive but achievable timelines for reduction efforts across the company, and new efforts to reinvigorate activities around these reductions began in July 2012.

"We set aggressive sustainability goals for our business in 2008, and we're proud of the progress we've made so far," said Gregg Tanner, President of the company's Fresh Dairy Direct business unit and Chief Supply Chain Officer for Dean Foods. "We are committed to speaking openly and transparently about our progress and shortfalls, and then realigning on new, expanded, and more accurate and achievable goals."

"Our new 2020 goals reflect our matured understanding and measurement within our facilities," said Tanner. "They will guide us to significantly reduce our environmental impact and operating costs – as well as improve our efficiency – for the next eight years."

Dean Foods is an Energy Star Partner and has ranked as one of the top two consumer products companies on the Carbon Disclosure Project's Leadership Index for the past three years. The company publishes a comprehensive Corporate Responsibility Report every two years and will share more information on the new 2020 goals when it releases the 2012 report later this year.