The White House has announced additional commitments from companies across the U.S. who are joining the American Business Act on Climate Pledge to reduce their environmental footprint and use of natural resources. Eighty-one companies have signed on the dotted lines including many in the agricultural arena including Cargill, Campos Brothers Farms, Coca Cola, General Mills, Hershey’s and more.
The companies have come on board prior to the climate talks in Paris set for December in an effort to show other countries the commitments being made by the U.S. in doing our part to reduce climate change emissions. By signing the pledge, companies have agreed to increase low-carbon investments, deploy more clean energy and take other actions to build more sustainable businesses.
For example, Campos Brothers Farms has committed to:
- Reduce the amount of CO2 being released into the atmosphere by an additional 166.4 Million pounds by 2025.
- Reduce our waste by another 25% through additional efficiencies and directive to utilize shells and orchard prunings for co-generation.
- Through increasing our solar power utilization by 400%, purchase of additional electric equipment/vehicles we will move from being nearly carbon neutral, to becoming carbon negative with respect to greenhouse gases.
- Reduce dust into the atmosphere by 60% by 2025.
- Improve our company-wide recycling rate to 95% by 2025 up from our 2009 baseline of 75%
- Reduce water usage by at least an additional 10% through technology, soil and tree improving on our baseline of 33% reduction in 2009 by converting to micro/drip irrigation.
- Invest in additional research funding for Project Apis M to enhance the health and vitality of honey bee colonies.
- Participate in a new USDA-funded pilot project between the Almond Board of California and the Environmental Defense Fund and others designed to give both almond and corn growers greater access to greenhouse gas markets like those under California’s cap-and-trade program.
The American Business Act on Climate Pledge was launched in July 2015 and this announcement marks the third round of pledges. The measures taken by these hundreds of companies helped President Obama set an ambitious but achievable goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions economy-wide by 26-28 percent. To date, 150 countries representing more than 85% of global carbon emissions have reported post-2020 climate policies to the United Nations. To read the American Business Act on Climate Pledge as well as to read the 81 companies’ pledges, click here.
