Environmental Sustainability
Sodexo USA employs 125,000 people and touches the lives of millions each day across all 50 states. We have the opportunity to take positive climate actions that positively impact our employees, clients and communities. We are committed to reducing our carbon emissions in our direct operations, on client sites and in our shared supply chain. From sustainable menus to responsible sourcing, reducing waste to the well-being of everyone we employ and serve, we believe it is our responsibility to positively impact environmental, social and economic ecosystems wherever we can.
Our Commitments
Reducing Carbon Emissions
We have committed to reducing our carbon emissions by 34% by 2025 (compared to 2017). The Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) approved our target in July 2019, making us the first food services company to align our objective to limiting global temperature rise to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.
Sodexo’s direct carbon emissions (Scope 1 and 2) represent about 1% of our carbon footprint, and we are taking positive actions to improve our performance in this space. We are also focused on reducing our indirect carbon emissions (Scope 3), which are the result of the services and supplies that we provide to our clients. These Scope 3 emissions represent the greatest potential we have to improve both our clients’ and Sodexo's environmental performance.
Half of Sodexo’s carbon emissions come from our supply chain, primarily from commodities such as meat and dairy products, palm oil and paper, which also drive deforestation. Ensuring every dollar we spend will create a positive impact on individuals, communities and the environment is at the heart of our responsible sourcing strategy.
The second largest percentage of Sodexo's emissions (46%) comes from the services we provide at our client sites. Sodexo has developed a client site sustainability tool, SEA for a Better Tomorrow, provided at no cost to our clients. SEA enables managers to baseline their performance, suggests best practices, features real-time dashboards and provides client reports to ensure we are meeting client expectations in this space.
Fighting Food Waste
Why is Sodexo tackling food waste? Because we are committed to fighting food insecurity and addressing climate change. If Americans wasted 15% less food, it would be enough to feed 25 million people per year. In addition, we would reduce the environmental impact associated with the production and disposal of food, such as water usage and carbon production. Reducing food waste is one of the most effective tools in addressing climate change.
For us, fighting food waste is a day-to-day effort. Thanks to the WasteWatch program and its intelligent waste-measurement technology, our teams can rapidly and easily capture food waste data and drive cultural and behavioral change to cut food waste generated in the kitchen as well as that left on our consumers’ plates.
Promoting Plant-Based Meal Options
According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, raising livestock produces 14.5% of all human-induced greenhouse gas emissions linked to climate change, nearly 7 times more than global air transportation.
About one-third of our U.S. emissions* result from purchases of animal-based products. To reduce our impact and meet the growing demand for plant-based options, we are increasing our menu options with a goal of 33% plant-based planned menus by 2025. We are integrating findings, discovered in partnership with the Future Food Collective, about how naming conventions impact consumer choice in the way we name recipes. To ensure we deliver craveable meals, we are expanding plant-based culinary training.
* 2017 baseline
Investing in Renewable Energy
As a member of RE100, Sodexo will support renewable electricity infrastructure by purchasing Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) to cover electricity usage at 100% of our directly operated sites by 2023. RE100 is a global initiative bringing together the world's most influential companies leading the transition to 100% renewable electricity. This commitment covers Sodexo’s directly operated sites under Scope 2 activities, as per the GHG Protocol guidelines. Our ambition is to extend energy management services to our clients, including the use of renewable energy, identifying efficiency projects that generate a positive return on investment, reduce their carbon emissions and deepen our partnership.
Sodexo is also committed to progressively transitioning away from coal sector projects, as part of our strategy to selectively grow our presence in specific mining markets since 2015; our aim is to exit the sector by 2025. We are increasingly supporting diversified energy clients who are willing to shift to new business streams and renewable energies.