ADM
CEF Lead Executives
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ALISON TAYLORList Item 1
Chief Sustainability Officer
Alison oversees the company’s global sustainability strategy and works closely with the Sustainability and Corporate Responsibility Committee of ADM's Board of Directors. She oversees many facets of the company's progress toward achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals, including Zero Hunger and Climate Action. She guides implementation of the company’s Respect for Human Rights policy, No-Deforestation policy, Strive 35 environmental stewardship program and ADM's philanthropic efforts through ADM Cares. Prior to joining ADM, Taylor worked for Siemens Corporation, where she was Vice President and Chief Sustainability Officer of the Americas. Taylor also worked on Capitol Hill as counsel for the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce, and chief counsel of the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works. She was previously a partner in the law firm now known as Davis, Graham and Stubbs, LLC. She holds a bachelor’s degree from Duke University and a Juris Doctor from the University of Denver.
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MICHELLE FRENCH
CEFNext
Manager of Corporate Sustainability
Michelle French she focuses on sustainable supply chain initiatives, including implementation of the company’s human rights policy and North American sustainable agriculture programs. She also engages with stakeholders in the supply chain, including growers and customers, as well as other stakeholders such as NGOs and investors to communicate the company’s sustainability strategy. Prior to this role, she spent 10 years in environmental compliance. Michelle has a B.S. in Natural Resources and Environmental Science from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
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CHARLIE HAYES
Director. Packaging
Charlie has 19 years of global packaging procurement experience ranging from buyer to director level leadership. Before ADM, Charlie worked at Whirlpool, Abbott Labs, and McCain Foods. Charlie earned a Supply Chain Management certification through Michigan State University, an MBA from Texas A&M, and a B.S. from Michigan State University School of Packaging.
Sustainability Goals
Sustainability Goals
2035 Goals
- Reduce absolute GHG emissions by 25%
- Reduce energy intensity by 15%
- Reduce water intensity by 10%
- Achieve a 90% landfill diversion rate
- Reduce its Scope 3 GHG emissions by 25%
Latest Sustainability Report
Highlights
- Reduced Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 7.8% (2019 baseline).
- Added new goal of increasing low-carbon energy usage to 25% of total energy use by 2035.
- Implemented 64 projects with estimated energy savings of over 488,000 MWh.
- 86% of soy and 62% of palm was deforestation-free.
- Engaged 1.2 million acres in the U.S. as part of a regenerative agriculture program in 2022, exceeding the goal of 1 million acres.
- Reduced 82.4% of waste from landfill (up 1.2% from 2019 baseline).
- Reduced water withdrawals by 1.0% (2019 baseline).
- Increased pay parity for women from 26% to 28% in senior leadership, and from 37% to 39% in salaried colleagues.
- Included in Ethisphere’s 2023 World’s Most Ethical Companies list.
Recent News
2024
Announced it will expand its traceable soybean program to other North American locations in 2024 after successfully shipping 2.4 million bushels (64 metric tons) of fully traceable soybeans from the U.S. to Europe in 2023. This comes in anticipation of new EU deforestation regulations, effective at the end of the year. (Jan 2024)
2023
More than 50 companies, unions, and organizations sent an open letter to Congressional leadership advocating for adjustments to the 45Q tax credit for carbon sequestration to strengthen its emission reduction and job creation potential. Specifically, the letter calls for indexing 45Q for inflation beginning immediately; and creating parity between carbon utilization credit levels and those associated with geologic storage. Signatories include CEF members ADM and BASF. (Dec 2023)
Farming for the Future: The State of Regenerative Agriculture Program Adoption (ADM) — Explores the potential of regenerative agriculture practices to meet growing consumer demand for sustainably sourced products and increase business resilience. The report finds that revenue from regenerative agriculture is expected to grow from $8.7 billion in 2022 to $32.3 billion by 2032. Using survey data, the report also finds that (Nov 2023):
- More than 70% of consumers would like the majority of their food to be sustainably sourced and expect companies to sustainably source their ingredients.
- 64% said they’d be more likely to buy from companies in a regenerative agriculture partnership.
- 87% of Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) and retail executives said a regenerative agriculture program would have a positive effect on product sales and long-term growth.
- 73% of CPG executives and 47% of retail executives said they already have some form of regenerative agriculture program in place.
- And of those who don’t, 65% said their company plans to adopt a program in the next 5 years or sooner.
Regenerating Together (SAI Platform) — This framework offers a “globally aligned definition of regenerative agriculture,” and practical ways for farmers to implement measurable regenerative practices. Over 20 leading Fast-Moving Consumer Goods companies and farmer cooperatives have developed and tested this framework across their global supply chain. And over 170 SAI Platform member companies have committed to the framework, including CEF members Archer Daniels Midland, PepsiCo, and Unilever.
Is expanding its regenerative agriculture program in North America. After enrolling more than 1 million acres in 2022, the company is expanding its program to cover 2 million acres in 2023 across 18 U.S. states and Canada (with a goal of 4 million acres globally by 2025). The expansion will offer producers financial incentives and technical support for implementing practices including cover cropping, improved nutrient management and conservation tillage. (July 2023)
NESTLÉ — Is investing to help bring regenerative agriculture practices to wheat farms within its DiGiorno supply chain. The initiative will bring regenerative agriculture practices to over 100,000 acres of farmland, nearly double the amount needed to grow the amount of wheat used in DiGiorno pizza (and thus helping accelerate Nestlé’s transition to regenerative agriculture in its broader supply chain). Nestlé will partner with CEF member ADM and with Ardent Mills, two primary wheat flour suppliers for DiGiorno. (July 2023)
2022
Agriculture Sector Roadmap to 1.5°C — Fourteen agriculture commodity companies are developing a roadmap outlining how they will reduce emissions from land-use change in the cattle, palm oil, and soy sectors, while protecting global food systems and producer livelihoods. It commits the companies to implement time-bound plans and report publicly on their progress towards the targets on an annual basis. It also outlines how signatories will engage and collaborate with other stakeholders, namely governments, supply chain actors and financial institutions, for wider support of the roadmap’s commitments. The collaboration is being facilitated by the Tropical Forest Alliance with support from WBCSD and includes CEF member ADM. (Nov 2022)
ADM / PEPSICO — Announced a 7.5 year strategic commercial agreement to collaborate on projects that aim to significantly expand regenerative agriculture across their shared North American supply chains. This strategic partnership is expected to reach up to 2 million acres by 2030. By 2030, the companies expect the partnership to eliminate 1.4 million metric tons of greenhouse gases at the farm level and increase value directly for farmers. (Sept 2022)
STANDARD CHARTERED / ADM — International banking group, Standard Chartered, and ADM launched the bank’s first Green Trade Export Letter of Credit program. This $500 million program will help ADM expand its sustainable farming practices and source sustainably produced goods, primarily soybeans, oilseeds, and cotton, and will be supported by third-party certification mechanisms. (Aug 2022)
ADM / FARMERS BUSINESS NETWORK (FBN) — Agreed to make FBN’s digital farm business management platform, Gradable, available to ADM’s network of 55,000 farmers across North America. The software includes capabilities for monitoring and verification that can allow farmers to participate in regenerative agriculture programs and access new markets for low-carbon grain. According to FBN, farmers using Gradable's environmental scoring function and using regenerative practices such as cover cropping, nitrogen efficiency tools, or no-till farming, have produced grain with carbon intensity footprints 20-30% below average. (July 2022)
Six large food and agribusiness companies, in conjunction with their membership in WBCSD’s Soft Commodities Forum (SCF), have announced they will identify soy sourced from Brazil’s Cerrado biome that was grown without contributing to deforestation or native vegetation conversion. Members of the SCF are committed to environmental destruction in their soy supply chains in the Cerrado region, home to 5% of Earth’s total biodiversity and the source of about 15% of the global supply of soy. The six SCF members, including CEF member ADM, are now able to disclose deforestation- and conversion-free soy purchases sourced from municipalities representing 70% of the area at-risk for deforestation associated with soy. (June 2022)
Issued its first sustainable bond at $750 million. It plans to use the net proceeds to finance and/or refinance green projects and social projects that advance its ESG goals. (Feb 2022)
ADM / WOLF CARBON SOLUTIONS — ADM will work with Wolf Carbon Solutions US to construct a pipeline that allows carbon produced at ADM’s ethanol and cogeneration facilities in Iowa to be captured, compressed, transported, and permanently stored underground at an ADM carbon-sequestration site. The pipeline would be able to transport 12 million tons of CO2 per year and would have extra capacity for third-party customers. (Jan 2022)
2021
Committed to reducing its Scope 3 GHG emissions by 25% by 2035 (2019 baseline). (Dec 2021)
The CEOs of 10 global companies managing a “major global market share” of forest-risk commodities (e.g., palm oil, soy)
pledged to create a shared roadmap for supply chain action
that
eliminates commodity-driven deforestation
and is
consistent with a 1.5°C pathway. The roadmap, to be created by COP27, will aim to increase transparency around Scope 3 emissions and indirect supply chains, and improve farmer livelihoods. Signatories include CEF member
ADM. (Nov 2021)
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ADM / GEVO —
ADM and the renewable energy firm
signed a memorandum of understanding to convert low-carbon ethanol and isobutanol into sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and other low-carbon hydrocarbon fuels. Gevo’s technology would potentially convert 900 million gallons of ethanol produced by ADM—over half of ADM’s production capacity—into about 500 million gallons of SAF and other renewable hydrocarbons, with plans to begin production in 2025-2026. (Nov 2021)
MORE »
Signed a memorandum of understanding with chemical company
LG Chem to
jointly build a US-based facility to produce and commercialize corn-based lactic acid (used in bioplastics) in early 2022. Their
second joint venture will use that lactic acid to produce and commercialize polylactic acid, which is plant-based and biodegradable. (Sept 2021)
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A coalition of over 160 companies, labor unions, environmental and conservation groups, and national, state, and local organizations sent a letter to congressional leaders calling for the infrastructure bills moving through Congress to bolster carbon capture and storage (CCS) policies. Policy priorities in the letter include changes to tax credits for CCS projects as well as financing for commercial-scale pilot projects and carbon-storage pipelines and facilities. Coalition members include CEF members
Archer-Daniels-Midland, GE Gas Power, Honeywell, and
Waste Management.
(Aug 2021)
MORE »
TPG —
Announced a
first close of $5.4 billion for the TPG Rise Climate Fund, the largest climate-focused fund in the world. Over
20 global companies—including CEF members
3M, ADM,
Alphabet, Apple,
Bank of America, Boeing, Dow, GE, General Motors, Honeywell,
and
TD Bank Group—participated in the close and will form a
Rise Climate Coalition. The fund will take a broad sector approach, focusing on growth equity to value-added infrastructure to
driving solutions for 5 climate sub-sectors. (Aug 2021)
MORE »
The European Commission launched the EU Code of Conduct on Responsible Food Business and Marketing Practices
to make healthy, sustainable food options that help reduce the EU’s environmental footprint more available and affordable. The 65 founding signatories include CEF members
Archer Daniels Midlands, PepsiCo, and
Unilever.
(July 2021)
MORE »
Global Roundtable for Sustainable Beef
— The coalition of global beef producers released its new sustainability roadmap with a commitment to reduce the “net global warming impact” of each unit of beef produced by 30% by 2030. Members, which include
McDonald's, ADM, JBS, Rabobank, and
Cargill, also agreed to improve animal welfare; ensure the value chain is a net-positive contributor to nature; and improve natural carbon stores in land and soil, which could sequester up to 216 million tons of carbon annually by 2030. (July 2021)
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Startup company Net Power announced plans to build 2 first-of-its-kind zero-emission natural-gas power plants in the United States, each capable of generating 280 MW of electricity. Its technology doesn’t produce nitrogen emissions and allows carbon dioxide byproducts to be buried deep underground. Archer-Daniels-Midlands Co. plans to utilize one of the plants to replace emissions from a coal power plant in Illinois. (April 2021)
Ethisphere released its 2021 list of the World’s Most Ethical Companies. CEF members recognized include (March 2021):
- 3M
- ADM
- Aptiv
- CBRE
- Dell Technologies
- Ecolab
- General Motors
- HanesBrands
- Hewlett Packard Enterprise
- Honeywell
- HP
- International Paper
- Kaiser Permanente
- Kimberly-Clark
- Mastercard
- Microsoft
- PepsiCo
- VF Corporation
- Visa
- Waste Management
A major new coalition, “America is All In,” launched to mobilize bold climate ambitions nationally and uphold the federal government’s commitment to climate action—specifically to cut U.S. emissions in half or more by 2030 and reach net-zero by 2050. Co-led by UN Special Climate Envoy Michael Bloomberg, the coalition effectively merges We Are Still In and America’s Pledge and is the most expansive effort ever assembled to support climate action in the U.S., involving U.S. businesses, cities, states, tribal nations, schools, and faith groups, health care organizations, and cultural institutions. Large companies involved include: 3M, Adobe, Amazon, Apple, ADM, Autodesk, BASF, Best Buy, Cargill, Carrier Corporation, The Clorox Company, Coca-Cola, Danone N.A., Dell Technologies, Dow Inc., DSM N.A., DuPont, eBay, Edison International, Facebook, Gap, General Mills, Google, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, HP, Inc., IKEA U.S., Johnson & Johnson, Johnson Controls, Kellogg Company, LafargeHolcim, Levi Strauss & Co., L’Oréal, Mars Incorporated, McDonald’s, Microsoft, Mondelez International, National Grid, Nestle, NIKE, Novozymes, PG&E Corporation, PepsiCo, Salesforce, Siemens, Sony Corporation of America, Starbucks, Steelcase, Target, Tiffany & Co., Trane Technologies, Verizon, VF Corporation, Walmart, and Waste Management. (February 2021)
2020-2019
ADM announced new 2035 sustainability goals, including reducing water intensity by 10 percent and achieving a 90 percent landfill diversion rate. In March, ADM announced plans to reduce absolute greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent and energy intensity by 15 percent during the same timeframe. (May 2020)
ADM Chief Sustainability Officer Alison Taylor was honored by Concern Worldwide as a "Woman of Concern," in recognition of Ms. Taylor’s leadership in mindful corporate sustainability, which led to a transformational partnership with Concern to address chronic malnutrition and save thousands of lives in Ethiopia and Kenya. (May 2020)
ADM Ventures contributed to Series B financing for alternative protein startup Nature’s Fynd along with Generation Investment Management, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, and others. (Mar 2020)
Helped launch the Plant Based Products Council, an initiative that aims to encourage more sustainable and responsible consumer products and packaging through greater use of plant-based materials. (2019)