Inside PepsiCo’s Keynote Presentation at The US Summit

Sustainability LIVE: The US Summit saw global sustainability, procurement and supply chain leaders gather to share insights on best business practices.

Discussions centred around decarbonisation, sustainable sourcing and the journey towards net zero, with panels, workshops and keynotes.

The event began with a keynote presentation from PepsiCo’s Chief Procurement & Supply Chain Officer and its North American Chief Sustainability Officer.

Sustainability at PepsiCo

The keynote, From Field to Shelf: How Procurement Powers Positive Impact Across the Value Chain, took place on The LIVE Stage to kick off the first day of the event.

It featured Burgess Scott Davis, Chief Sustainability Officer, North America at PepsiCo and Marcelo Stefani, Chief Procurement & Supply Chain Officer at PepsiCo.

They discussed the specific levers procurement uses to deliver measurable progress against PepsiCo’s pep+ climate, packaging, water and agricultural goals.

“We know that if we do not transform the way that food is grown today, it’s really detrimental to certainly PepsiCo, but really to the entire food system and to society overall,” Burgess said.

“And we’re really leaning in on positive agriculture and regenerative agriculture in particular. Last year, we expanded the goals that we have and we currently have a goal to adopt regenerative, restorative or protective practices across 10 million acres by 2030. And we’re making really great progress.”

Burgess also discussed the link between sustainability in procurement within PepsiCo’s operations.

“The team is also working to embed the different requirements of regenerative practices within many of our agreements, particularly for those key crops of potatoes, corn, oats and sugar,” she said.

“We know that sometimes changing any company, any change that you make, and certainly farmers are no different, and each time they’re making a change to how they grow, there’s risk associated with that.

“And so the procurement team is working to help de-risk that transition and providing incentives and also putting into place long-term contracts to help manage the change for them.”

How procurement and sustainability interact

During the keynote, Marcelo spoke about how PepsiCo built its procurement strategy with sustainability in mind.

It changed the way it operates with its key partners, with a focus on value creation in a changing environment.

“You need to reinvent yourself every day,” Marcelo said. “You need to change the way you do stuff with AI coming as well. And therefore, the only thing that you can do is that you have an ecosystem for the suppliers that you are working with.

“I think now, from a sustainability point of view, in every agreement, in every building we do, we put the sustainability targets together with our need to deliver. And I think everybody now understands the cost of doing business with PepsiCo because PepsiCo, beyond any administrations, is trying to do good things for getting a better world for the future.

“And I think that was very relevant. We couldn’t do the same three years ago. We had to change the way we were operating.”

What is the pep+ strategy?

The points raised by Burgess and Marcelo at The US Summit align with PepsiCo’s wider sustainability strategy.

Its pep+ strategy places sustainable practices at the core of its growth and value creation.

PepsiCo’s sustainability commitments focus particularly on food access, safe water access, farming and workforce development.

pep+ has been designed as a strategic, end-to-end transformation, focusing on sustainability in its production, marketing and distribution, while building resilience in its operations and supply chains.