Maple Leaf Foods has released its 2021 Sustainability Report, highlighting the company’s key 2021 accomplishments. Committed to science-based targets, last year, the first major carbon neutral food company in the world made strides in various areas.
One of these is carbon footprint reduction. To accomplish this, Maple Leaf focused on regenerative agriculture’s potential in capturing carbon from the atmosphere and storing it back in the soil. Maple Leaf teamed up with Canadian fertilizer company Nutrien to expand on a project that incentivizes and educates farmers in regions where Maple Leaf sources grains to adopt regenerative agriculture practices. In 2021, the project encompassed approximately 20,000 acres of farmland in Manitoba and Saskatchewan. The company plans to scale that to 100,000 acres this year.
In addition, Maple Leaf Foods continued to work with Indigo Ag, where it intends to purchase certified carbon credits through its carbon program that rewards individual farmers for adopting regenerative agriculture practices that improve biodiversity, soil health, and carbon sequestration.
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Maple Leaf Foods also is continuing to make progress in achieving several of its 2025 environmental goals. So far, it has reduced the intensity of its electricity by 21.8%, natural gas by 18.7%, and water by 21.4% since 2014. It also has cut its food waste by 33.3% since 2016, and has achieved a company-wide landfill diversion rate of 92.7%
“Our efforts to combat climate change continue as part of the soul of our company, and our sense of urgency is growing,” says Michael McCain, president and CEO, Maple Leaf Foods. “We are proud of our 2021 accomplishments, but know we must do even more. Our unwavering sustainability vision guides us to deliver the shared value we've promised all our stakeholders, including the planet.”
