General Mills
Sustainability Goals
Current Sustainability Goals
Ongoing
- To champion the regeneration of water resources in priority watersheds.
2025
- Achieve zero waste to landfill at 100% of owned manufacturing facilities.
- Purchase 100% cage-free or range-free eggs for global operations (% contracted).
2030
- Reduce GHG emissions across the value chain by 20% (2020 baseline)
- Advance regenerative agriculture on 1 million acres of farmland.
- Source 100% renewable electricity for global operations (aligned to RE100).
- Design 100% of packaging to be recyclable or reusable.
- Reduce food waste in operations by 50% (2020 baseline).
2050
- Achieve
net zero GHG emissions.
Latest Sustainability Reporting
2023 Global Responsibility Report (April 2023)
Highlights
- Reduced Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 49% and entire value chain emissions by 1% (2020 baseline).
- Enrolled 235,700 acres in programs advancing regenerative management.
- Sourced renewable electricity for 87% of global operations.
- 92% of packaging is recyclable or reusable (by weight).
- 100% of company-owned production facilities are Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) certified.
- Achieve zero waste to landfill for 41% of owned manufacturing facilities globally.
- Reduced food waste by 39% (2020 baseline).
Recent News
2024
Joined CEF in January!
2023
GENERAL MILLS / WALMART — Announced a collaboration to advance regenerative agriculture across 600,000 acres (243,000 hectares) in the U.S. by 2030. (This represents the approximate number of acres General Mills engages to source key ingredients for products sold through Walmart and Sam’s Club.) The program will provide financial assistance to local organizations in the Northern and Southern Great Plains to develop regenerative agriculture education and coaching resources. (October 2023)
2022
Guidehouse Supplier Leadership on Climate Transition (Supplier LoCT) project — Added nine global brands to the project, expanding from three founding members—Mars, PepsiCo (CEF member), and McCormick & Company—to 12 with the addition of Atlantic Packaging, The Coca-Cola Company, The Estée Lauder Companies, General Mills, Keurig Dr Pepper, Mondelēz International, Nestlé, Restaurant Brands International, and Yum! Brands. Founded in April 2021, the consortium is working to accelerate action among suppliers towards net-zero emissions. (April 2022)
Design For Good — A new global nonprofit alliance of companies and institutions committed to harnessing the power of their design communities to advance the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Founding partners—which include CEF members General Mills, McKinsey & Company, Microsoft, PepsiCo along with Logitech, Nedbank, Nestlé, Philips, and the Royal College of Art—will allow their 5,000+ designers to work together to research, design and develop open-source products and services that measurably advance the UN SDGs. Each year, Design For Good will focus on one UN SDG—with Goal 6 (clean water and sanitation) the focus this inaugural year. The most promising new solutions each year will be awarded funding for accelerated scaling and implementation for global benefit. (April 2022)
2021
geoFootprint (Quantis) allows companies and supply chain stakeholders to visualize (in high resolution) and simulate key commodity crops' environmental footprints and gain insights relevant to the apparel, chemicals, cosmetics, biofuels, and other bio-based industries. The tool was created in collaboration with 25 public, private, and academic partners, including General Mills, Mars, Nestlé Research, Unilever, and WBCSD. (February 2021)
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
A group of 17 global consumer goods brands, retailers and manufacturers — including CEF members General Mills, PepsiCo, Procter & Gamble, and Unilever — have joined the Forest Positive Coalition of Action, an initiative to “engage and collaborate with producers, suppliers and traders, as well as governments and civil society, to advocate for forest positive solutions.” The coalition is led by The Consumer Goods Forum. (September 2020)