Hershey Releases 2019 Annual Sustainability Report Celebrating 125 Years of Shared Goodness
June 02 2020 - 08:27AM
The Hershey Company (NYSE: HSY) today released its 2019
Sustainability Report, highlighting the company’s commitment to
shared goodness as Hershey celebrated a milestone of 125 years.
The report reflects increasing transparency on its
sustainability work and showcases Hershey’s progress to date in key
areas of focus, such as sustainable cocoa, responsible sourcing,
climate change and human rights.
Hershey’s Shared Goodness Promise continues to be a key driver
in its sustainability strategy—with a focus on business, planet,
communities and youth. In 2019, Hershey made significant
progress in these key focus areas, including commitments to the
Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi) to set a science-based
carbon reduction goal; and a push to resolve some of the most
pressing issues in its cocoa supply chain such as child labor.
“As we celebrated our 125th anniversary, we succeeded in
honoring our founder by addressing key challenges facing our
communities and our consumers, from 100% certified sustainable
cocoa to addressing human rights across our entire value chain,”
said Michele Buck, Chairman, President and CEO of The Hershey
Company. “Today, as we collectively face an unprecedented
time, our purpose is more important than ever—and we will continue
our commitment to create more moments of goodness for all.”
Notable milestones highlighted in the report include:
- Investing in a More Sustainable Supply Chain:
Hershey is committed to ensuring the ingredients and raw materials
it purchases are responsibly sourced. It has established
programs and policies to positively contribute to the
sustainability and livelihoods of the communities it depends
on to source its ingredients for its products while taking the
necessary steps to safeguard human rights and protect the people
and ecosystems behind the ingredients that make Hershey’s iconic
products. In early 2019, Hershey published its first Human
Rights Policy, after conducting an in-depth assessment of the
company’s most salient human rights issues. Today, Hershey
integrates human rights training into the new employee orientation
process and makes it a requirement for all global procurement
professionals. Additionally, Hershey is well on-track to meet
several 2020 responsible sourcing commitments and has already
achieved its goals to source 100% certified and sustainable cocoa
(a goal Hershey has achieved in early 2020), 100% RSPO-certified
mass balance palm oil, and 100% third-party certified sustainable
virgin fiber pulp and paper products in the U.S. and Canada.
- Eliminating Child Labor Within Cocoa
Communities: Hershey does not tolerate child labor within
its supply chain and is working to eliminate it from occurring
within cocoa communities. Hershey recognizes child labor as a
symptom of poverty and has developed a comprehensive strategy
called Cocoa For Good, which seeks to disrupt the cycle of poverty
while also addressing its many symptoms head-on. Under Cocoa For
Good, Hershey has adopted the industry-leading
Child Labor Monitoring and Remediation Systems (CLMRS) to detect,
report and remediate any cases of child labor within its supply
chain. Hershey more than doubled its CLMRS coverage from 2018
to 2019, and has since committed to expanding CLMRS to 100% of its
cocoa sourcing in Cote d’Ivoire and Ghana, its highest risk
sourcing areas. Hershey has also trained more than 29,700
farmers and 330 supplier personnel on child labor issues to help
build community-level capacity to combat the issue. To date,
Hershey’s CLMRS work has found zero instances of forced labor
within the segment of the Hershey cocoa supply chain
assessed.
- Supporting Cocoa Communities: Hershey’s
Cocoa For Good works to increase the profitability of cocoa farming
as well as diversify household incomes, educate families on the
power of savings, foster women’s leadership and improve the quality
of education to disrupt the cycle of poverty in cocoa growing
communities. In 2019, the company directly supported 51,009
farmers (12% female) in improving the quality and yield of cocoa
and 21,194 farmers (16% female) in crop diversification; trained
12,952 farmers in business skills; facilitated 6,771 individuals’
(83% female) access to savings and loans from Village Savings and
Loan Associations (VSLAs); and helped institute quality education
interventions that benefited 84,284 primary school children.
Hershey also promotes proper nutrition and school feeding programs
to Energize Learning. Since 2015, Hershey has distributed
ViVi – a peanut-based, fortified snack – to school children in
Ghana daily. Between 2014 and 2019, the company produced more
than 56 million sachets of ViVi and distributed it to more
than 265,000 children in Ghana. In 2019, 100% of peanuts used
in ViVi were locally sourced and roasted, benefiting local farmers.
- Reducing Our Environmental Impact: Hershey is
committed to preserving ecosystems, reducing its impact on the
climate and conserving natural resources. In 2019, the company
launched its first enterprise-wide environmental policy. To
date, the company has reduced 23.6 million pounds of packaging
since 2015 and reduced its greenhouse gas intensity of products by
13% since 2015. In 2019, Hershey committed to the
Science-Based Targets Initiative (SBTi) to set a science-based
greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reductions goal by 2021. The
company is on track to announce that target in early 2021 and in
the meantime continues to pursue its 25 by 25 commitments set in
2015 to reduce water usage, waste and emissions by 25% by 2025.
- Championing Diversity and Inclusion and Building
Careers: Hershey is committed to creating a
workplace that reflects the society that it serves and
strengthening a culture where people can build their careers.
Six out of nine Hershey executive committee members have built
their careers at Hershey. In 2019, Hershey ranked 25th on the
DiversityInc Top 50 Companies for Diversity List. The company
also has nearly closed the gender pay gap with women earning $0.99
for every $1 that men earned compared to an average of about $0.82
across the United States. Women also made up 45 percent of
professional U.S. experienced hires and 53 percent of campus hires
in 2019. Twenty-five percent of the major Hershey retail
accounts are led by women in the United States. In addition,
the company’s ethnic diversity continues to grow with people of
color representing 31% of U.S. hires in 2019.
- Helping Kids Build Meaningful Connections:
The Hershey Company has remained committed to Milton
Hershey’s legacy of helping children succeed and reach their full
potential. In 2019, the company introduced the Heartwarming
Project Action Grants program, which provide microgrants to teens
to advance connection, empathy and inclusion in their own schools
and communities. More than 500 teens and school groups across
the U.S. applied and nearly 300 received a $250 microgrant to
advance their project. Through Hershey’s Heartwarming
Project, more than 775,000 youth have benefited and over 12,400
youth have taken part in Heartwarming actions to improve their
communities.
For more information on Hershey’s Shared Goodness Promise, read
our 2019 Sustainability Report. This is Hershey’s second
sustainability report prepared in accordance with the GRI
Standards: Comprehensive option. Accompanying the main
report, Hershey, as part of its initiatives to increase
transparency, has also provided a Sustainable Accounting Standards
Board (SASB) index and UN Sustainable Development Goals
footprint.
About The Hershey Company
The Hershey Company is headquartered in Hershey, Pa., and is an
industry-leading snacks company known for bringing goodness to the
world through its iconic brands, remarkable people and enduring
commitment to help children succeed. Hershey has
approximately 16,000 employees around the world who work every day
to deliver delicious, quality products. The company has more than
80 brands around the world that drive $8 billion in annual
revenues, including such iconic brand names as Hershey’s, Reese’s,
Kit Kat, Jolly Rancher, Ice Breakers, SkinnyPop and Pirate’s
Booty.
For more than 125 years, Hershey has been committed to operating
fairly, ethically and sustainably. Hershey founder, Milton
Hershey, created the Milton Hershey School in 1909 and since then
the company has focused on helping children succeed.
To learn more visit www.thehersheycompany.com
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Media Contact:Jeff Beckman, The Hershey
Companyjbeckman@hersheys.com
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