PepsiCo has ambitions to achieve 100 percent renewable electricity for direct operations across Europe by 2022 through investments in solar and wind, scaling up to renewable electricity in this category worldwide by 2030.

The F&B giant plans to further extend fully renewable electricity across all franchise and third-party operations by 2040, and achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. The move comes under pressure for increased sustainability from consumers and governments. 

“The plan to achieve 100 percent renewable electricity globally represents an acceleration of our efforts to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and we’re hopeful it will have a huge impact,” Chris Daly, vice president of sustainability PepsiCo Europe tells FoodIngredientsFirst.  

With PepsiCo’s scale, the transition to renewable electricity has the potential to reduce approximately 2.5 million metric tons of GHG emissions by 2040, according to the company. 

“We know the responsibility that comes with our size and scale, so transitioning PepsiCo’s global business operations to 100 percent renewable electricity is the right step forward to deliver a meaningful impact,” says Jim Andrew, chief sustainability officer at PepsiCo.

PepsiCo’s current target is to reduce absolute GHG emissions across the global value chain by 20 percent by 2030. By the end of 2019, the company had made progress towards this goal, reducing absolute GHG emissions by 6 percent across the value chain, according to Daly. 

He notes: “The global food system is responsible for around 30 percent of GHG emissions and as a leading business in this industry, we have a responsibility to help drive the systemic change needed to help create a more sustainable food system.”

Developing solar and wind projects
To achieve 100 percent renewable electricity globally, PepsiCo will employ various strategies, including Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) to support the development of solar and wind farming projects around the world. 

PPAs will enable the near-term transition to renewable sources in many geographies. The company will also support purchased energy certificates, which are certified by independent third parties. 

The company will also continue to expand its growing list of onsite wind and solar projects at its facilities around the world. PepsiCo’s global headquarters in Purchase, New York, installed rooftop solar energy panels earlier this year.

To further support its transition, PepsiCo has joined RE100, an initiative that brings together influential companies committed to 100 percent renewable electricity. The collaboration is led by the non-profits the Climate Group and CDP, which aim to accelerate change towards zero-carbon grids at scale.  

“By investing in the development of new global solar and wind farms to meet their targets, PepsiCo is making a tangible contribution to accelerating the clean energy transition,” says Sam Kimmins, head of RE100 at the Climate Group.

Daly asserts that it is important to remember that sustainability goals cannot be reached alone. “To achieve our goals on climate change and GHG emissions, we need to see close collaboration across the supply chain and the broader food system, not just with industry bodies and our peers, but with governments as well.” 

“Governments have a huge role in terms of setting standards and catalyzing activity, which is why we’re engaging in discussions around legislative measures to achieve climate change goals, including being supportive of the European Commission’s Green Deal,” he adds. 

Europe leading the way
The new targets build upon PepsiCo’s global efforts to increase its use of renewable energy sources and its transition to renewable electricity in the US, its largest market, announced earlier this year.

PepsiCo currently procures renewable electricity in 18 countries, nine of which already meet 100 percent of their electricity demand from renewable sources. 

In Europe, there are onsite solar energy installations at the company’s Rotterdam (NL), Carregado (Portugal), Athens (Greece), Limassol (Cyprus) and Tarsus (Turkey) plants, as well as the Skelmersdale (UK) and Zeebrugge (Belgium) sites. 

With the shift to renewable electricity in the US underway this year, PepsiCo is currently on track to source 56 percent of its electricity through renewable sources globally by the end of 2020. 

The cost of sustainability
The cost of renewable electricity varies by both market and by the type of project. The price has reduced significantly over recent years making it accessible to all, even though there are some markets wher it is more challenging, underscores Daly. 

“Our role as a business is to understand the actions we need to take and find a way of offsetting the costs to retain our business profitability. Electricity is a highly impactful area and reasonably easy to deploy.” 

“Fossil fuel energy replacement is more challenging both from a technical execution standpoint and from a cost absorption and this is the next part of our journey,” he concludes.