PepsiCo Debuts New Customer Sustainability Platform

pep+ Partners for Tomorrow brings together PepsiCo’s broad sustainability capabilities into one platform to offer customers customizable suite of solutions

PURCHASE, N.Y. – PepsiCo has introduced “pep+ Partners for Tomorrow,” a novel platform that provides solutions to assist its customers in attaining their sustainability objectives. While initially targeting U.S. clients, the company plans to expand the initiative to important international markets by 2024.

Under the Partners for Tomorrow platform, PepsiCo’s broad range of customer sustainability solutions will be consolidated to provide the essential solutions required by the company’s partners. Additionally, the program will collaborate directly with partners to implement these initiatives. These programs align with pep+ (PepsiCo Positive), a comprehensive business transformation strategy aimed at promoting long-term sustainable business performance and value, with sustainability and human capital at its core.

At launch, Partners for Tomorrow programs include:

• CIRQU (the latest evolution of the PBNA-led program formerly known as BottleLoop):CIRQU, an initiative launched by PepsiCo Beverages North America (PBNA), offers a convenient and free on-demand collection service for recyclable beverage containers in food service and retail establishments. The collected materials are then reclaimed and processed by PepsiCo to produce recycled PET packaging. PBNA has teamed up with Replenysh to enable its customers to efficiently contribute to the recycling of plastic, glass, and aluminum containers, and ensure that the recycled materials are integrated back into the supply chain for reuse. The program has expanded significantly, reaching five times more communities in 2022 than in 2021, with over 250 active host locations across 10 states and 58 communities.
• Reusable Cup Solutions:To support its objective of having 20 percent of all beverage servings delivered through reusable models by 2030, PepsiCo is collaborating with partners in select markets to test various reusable cup solutions. Recently, the company launched a reusable cup pilot program in conjunction with the grand reopening of the CFG Bank Arena in Baltimore, Maryland, in partnership with TURN. The program incorporates gamification to encourage event attendees to return the reusable cups once used. In a prior collaboration with a leading convenience retailer, the PepsiCo Foodservice team developed branded aluminum “collector” cups, while SodaStream tested a university on-campus pilot project that offered SodaStream in-home units for dorm rooms coupled with reusable SodaStream bottles that could be refilled at various locations across campus.
• Regenerative Agriculture:PepsiCo has developed a Regenerative Agriculture program, known as sow+ Agriculture (Sow Positive Agriculture), to facilitate direct investment from PBNA and PFNA customers into initiatives aimed at converting agricultural land to regeneratively farmed acreage. Through this program, PepsiCo and its suppliers aim to drive progress toward regenerative agriculture goals. Farmers will receive financial assistance via loans and grants to convert their land to new practices that help enhance soil health, reduce erosion, and improve water quality. Additionally, the program will serve as a platform for industry influencers to discuss concepts, trends, opportunities, and risks related to regenerative farming.
• North America Customer Sustainability Summit: PepsiCo’s annual North America Customer Sustainability Summit aims to educate and empower its customers to make progress on their sustainability journeys. Participants will hear from both internal and external thought leaders who have collaborated successfully to drive sustainability progress, gaining insights and knowledge to help them make positive contributions towards their own sustainability goals.
• pep+ REnew: PepsiCo launched the pep+ REnew initiative in 2022, the first of its kind in the food and beverage industry. It aims to increase value chain partner access to renewable electricity, in line with PepsiCo’s objective to achieve net-zero emissions by 2040. Due to the difficulties many small and medium businesses face in participating in the renewable electricity market, pep+ REnew has two main goals: firstly, to educate PepsiCo’s value chain partners about their renewable electricity options, and secondly, to expedite the transition to renewable electricity through the use of aggregate power purchase agreements (PPAs) and other procurement options.

“PepsiCo has a long history of working together with our partners to advance shared sustainability goals. The Partners for Tomorrow platform aims to scale those solutions to foster the most effective partnerships and longstanding impact,” said Todd Squarek, Senior Vice President, Chief Sustainability Officer for PepsiCo Beverages North America. “With this platform we’re leveraging the shared scale of PepsiCo’s and our customers’ businesses to maximize impact, drive progress toward our pep+ goals, and benefit both our businesses, the planet and the communities we serve.”

Partners for Tomorrow is PepsiCo’s latest offering that complements a suite of best-in-class customer capabilities ranging from product innovation to insights.

“At PepsiCo and Frito-Lay, our retail customers are true partners, including when it comes to addressing the impacts of climate change,” said Cara Keating, Chief Customer Officer, Frito-Lay North America (FLNA). “Through the launch of the Partners for Tomorrow platform and its robust portfolio of solutions, we are taking an important step forward in how we collaborate with our customers to progress toward critical sustainability goals, meet consumer demands, and, ultimately, drive commercial value together.”

Partners for Tomorrow is one of the many ways that PepsiCo is working to drive progress toward its multiple pep+ sustainability goals, while at the same time helping customers achieve their goals.

PepsiCo’s pep+ climate strategy focuses on everything in its supply chain, including manufacturing, agriculture, packaging, transportation, vending and cooling equipment and is an example of how PepsiCo’s pep+ strategy can also help its customers achieve their sustainability goals. The work to improve PepsiCo’s end-to-end supply chain aims to help drive progress toward the pep+ goals to achieve net-zero emissions across PepsiCo’s value chain by 2040—one decade earlier than called for in the Paris Agreement and also help its customers to see progress toward achieving their Scope 3 emissions reduction goals.

Some of PepsiCo’s key projects designed to drive progress against the company’s pep+ ambitions for climate, packaging and agriculture include:

• Fleet Electrification:PepsiCo is taking steps to reduce emissions on the path to achieving net zero, including the implementation of a fleet of electric vehicles at its facilities. The first deliveries of electrified semi vehicles from Tesla have been received by FLNA and PBNA at their facilities in Modesto and Sacramento. In addition, FLNA and PBNA are also electrifying other aspects of their facility infrastructure, such as electric forklifts, route trucks, service vans, and yard tractors.
• Manufacturing and Fleet Excellence: Frito-Lay revealed the near completion of its 500,000-square feet facility in Modesto, California which is a first-of-its-kind showcase for sustainable manufacturing, warehousing, and distribution technologies. The changes underway at Modesto involve the replacement of diesel fleet assets with Zero Emissions (ZE) and Near Zero Emissions (NZE) alternatives, installation of fueling and charging infrastructure for the new fleet, and on-site renewable energy generation and storage. As a result of these efforts, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the facility’s direct fleet operations have been reduced by 91%. Meanwhile, PBNA’s new manufacturing facility in Denver, set to open in the near future, is aiming to become net water positive through an advanced water recycling system and replenishment in the local watershed. The facility also seeks to achieve 100% renewable electricity, utilizing both solar and innovative biogas technologies.
• rPET:PBNA is aiming to increase the use of recycled polyethylene terephthalate (rPET) across various beverage brands, such as Pepsi, Mtn Dew, and Aquafina. In multiple regions of the United States, these products will be offered in bottles made entirely from rPET. PepsiCo predicts that using 100% rPET in bottles will result in a reduction of approximately 30% in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions per bottle. By 2030, the entire range of Pepsi-branded products intends to eliminate bottles made from new plastic.
• Regenerative Agriculture Partnerships: PepsiCo recently invested in long-term strategic partnerships with three farmer-facing organizations – Practical Farmers of Iowa, Soil and Water Outcomes Fund, and the IL Corn Growers Association. These partnerships are aimed at promoting the adoption of regenerative agriculture practices throughout the United States. It is expected that the collective impact of these partnerships will lead to the adoption of regenerative practices on more than three million acres, resulting in the removal of approximately three million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions by 2030.

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