An analysis by S&P Global Market Intelligence shows that, after declining for many years, environmental damage costs linked to three of the biggest packaged food producers are once again rising. The analysis found that between 2009 and 2015, while the cost of environmental damage as a proportion of revenue linked to Nestlé, Danone and Mondelez fell, the cost has risen sharply, with the bulk of the cost coming from the companies’ supply chains, not direct operations.
“A lot of major global corporations have effectively outsourced their environmental impact to their supply chains. “It’s a blind spot, which means that most of their carbon emissions, water use and impact on deforestation escape public scrutiny.”
Dexter Galvin, global director of corporations and supply chains at CDP (a nonprofit group that collects environmental data from companies)