Corteva Agriscience announced its 10-year commitments to advance sustainability throughout the global food system. The goals span a wide range of initiatives for farmers, the land, communities where employees and customers live and work, and in its own operations. Improvements in soil health, on-farm productivity, climate action, water stewardship, biodiversity, supply chain transparency and worker safety, among others, are included.
“Our mission to lead the entire agriculture industry toward better, more sustainable outcomes across the world is more important now than ever,” said Corteva Agriscience Chief Executive Officer James C. Collins, Jr. “We believe there is no better time to commit to protecting and preserving the source of our food, and helping our communities thrive. We support those who provide for us all.”
"The goals reflect the company’s size and scope, total focus on agriculture, and deep relationships with farmers and collaborators across the ag value chain," said Anne Alonzo, Corteva Agriscience SVP External Affairs and Chief Sustainability Officer. “Sustainability is nothing new to Corteva. Our announcement today is simply our public commitment to 14 specific and measurable goals that will advance sustainability for farmers, protect our land and natural resources, improve our communities, and benefit our operations".
Corteva’s 10-year commitments will provide tools and training to help increase yield stability, optimize inputs, and improve climate resilience. Commitments to soil health, water stewardship, and biodiversity are also included. Corteva’s goals will champion and protect employees and people throughout the food system and the broader agriculture community. Within their business operations, the company is pledging to innovate sustainably, establish a climate strategy, use sustainable packaging, and increase their work sites’ sustainability efforts.
Corteva will report progress toward these goals through an annual sustainability report starting in 2021. For more information on the 2030 sustainability goals, visit sustainability.corteva.com.
The company’s 2030 sustainability goals include:
Goals to benefit farmers:
1. Provide training for 25 million growers on soil health, nutrient and water stewardship, and productivity best practices.
2. Help increase the productivity, incomes, and sustainable farming practices of 500 million smallholder farmers cumulatively through 2030.
3. Design, validate and scale management systems that will enable farmers to sustainably increase crop yields by 20% compared to 2020 as a baseline, while simultaneously reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 20% within cropping systems compared to 2020.
Goals to benefit the land:
4. Improve soil health on 30 million hectares of global agricultural land by 2030.
5. Support water stewardship advances in global agricultural production by 2030: Help accelerate improvement in nitrogen use efficiency across global agricultural land by 2030; and reduce water consumption while helping to increasing yields on 2.5 million hectares of seed production and water stressed agricultural land by 2030 compared to 2020.
6. Enhance biodiversity on more than 10 million hectares of grazing lands and natural ecosystems globally through sustainable management practices and habitat conservation by 2030.
Goals to benefit communities:
7. Protect the safety of people at Corteva facilities and those working in agriculture.
8. Empower women, enable youth, and engage communities around the globe where Corteva Agriscience employees and customers live and work, by 2030.
9. Volunteer one million employee hours to support people and communities around the world by 2030.
10. Increase supply chain transparency from farmers to consumers, by leveraging digital tools that enable farmers to create additional value through transparency in agriculture markets, food systems, and communities.
Goals for the company’s operations:
11. Ensure every new product meets sustainability criteria by 2025.
12. Establish a climate strategy for scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions, including appropriate reduction targets by June 1, 2021.
13. Only use recyclable or reusable packaging by 2030.
14. Operate every site more sustainably through waste reduction, water conservation, and enhanced biodiversity.
Cautionary Statement About Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, which may be identified by their use of words like “plans,” “expects,” “will,” “anticipates,” “believes,” “targets,” “goals”, or other words of similar meaning. All statements that address expectations or plans about the future, including statements about Corteva’s sustainability strategy and goals, are forward-looking statements.
Forward-looking statements are based on certain assumptions and expectations of future events which may not be accurate or realized. Forward-looking statements also involve risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond Corteva’s control. Consequences of material differences in results as compared with those anticipated in the forward-looking statements could include, among other things, business disruption, operational problems, financial loss, regulatory changes and similar risks, any of which could have a material adverse effect on Corteva’s business, results of operations and financial condition. Additionally, there may be other risks and uncertainties that Corteva is unable to currently identify or that Corteva does not currently expect to have a material impact on its business. Where, in any forward-looking statement, an expectation or belief as to future results or events is expressed, such expectation or belief is based on the current plans and expectations of Corteva’s management and expressed in good faith and believed to have a reasonable basis, but there can be no assurance that the expectation or belief will result or be achieved or accomplished. Corteva disclaims and does not undertake any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement, except as required by applicable law. A detailed discussion of some of the significant risks and uncertainties which may cause results and events to differ materially from such forward-looking statements is included in Corteva’s Annual Report on Form 10-K under “Risk Factors” and supplemented by subsequent Quarterly Reports and Current Reports on Forms 10-Q and 8-K, respectively.
Media Contact:
Kacey Birchmier
+1 515-305-0085
kacey.birchmier@corteva.com
Investor Relations Contact:
Megan Britt
+1 302-485-3279
megan.britt@corteva.com
