Fresh Del Monte Produce has joined the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), which aims to drive climate change action in the private sector by enabling companies to set science-based targets to reduce emissions.

The company joins SBTi as the first global marketer of fruits and vegetables to commit to reducing its carbon footprint in order to assist with lessening global warming to below two degrees Celcius. 

“We continue to see an increase in the impact of climate change on our lives through unusually active hurricane seasons and deadly wildfires,” said Hans Sauter, Chief Sustainability Officer at Fresh Del Monte.

Fresh Del Monte will work with SBTi to develop its target for reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 2030.

In 2015, the largest banana-growing operation was certified as Carbon Neutral by SCS Global Services and Fresh Del Monte has continued to build onto this program. 

Today, bananas grown by Fresh Del Monte in Costa Rica, along with 74 percent of all pineapples grown by the company that is sold in North America and Europe, are sourced from Carbon Neutral farms.

“We believe that achieving the bold challenges outlined in the Paris Agreement five years ago requires not only the cooperation of governments, and NGOs, but also of corporations,” Sauter said.

“We will not limit global warming to well below two degrees Celcius unless the private and public sectors start working together and making serious commitments like these. We aspire to lead by example and hope others in our industry will do the same,” he said.

The company has released an update to its 2018-19 Corporate Sustainability Report. The report includes the development and launch of the Environmental Action Tool and database to track company-wide greenhouse gas emissions for the first time in the company’s history. 

Fresh Del Monte also recently made investments in six fuel-efficient vessels, two of which launched this year and are anticipated to result in a 10 percent reduction in Scope 1 CO2e emissions from vessel shipping by 2025.