ESG A to Z

As a socially responsible company, Kellogg has always been committed to responsible sourcing, including protecting animals. Even though we are a grain¬ based company, and we use very little animal product in our foods, we embrace the important role we play in influencing responsible and sustainable behavior throughout our supply chain. Approximately 95% of the ingredients in Kellogg foods have no animal products, and 99% of our foods are meatless.

View full Animal Welfare Commitment

View Egg Sourcing Story Infographic

Kellogg's^™ Better Days is our promise to advance sustainable and equitable access to food food by addressing the intersection of wellbeing, hunger, sustainability, and equity, diversity and inclusion. Behind these issues are specific metrics to meet our goals and details describing the methodology for tracking these metrics.

View full Better Days Promise methodology

For years, we have been working diligently toward our commitments to help feed people in need, responsibly source our ingredients and conserve natural resources. We believe in great tasting food you can feel good about, too. We must live our values and communicate with transparency to earn our seat at millions of tables every day. 

That’s why we are leading the charge through World Business Council of Sustainable Development (WBCSD), part of the United Nations (UN) Global Compact, and incorporating the UN Sustainable Development Goals in all that we do. Our aim is to produce our foods more efficiently, with less energy, fewer greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, less water and less waste across our manufacturing and supply chain. Our existing Global Sustainability commitments sunset at the end of 2020 and we are already working towards our new, more ambitious Kellogg’s® Better Days commitments for 2030.

View full CDP Climate Change Report 2021

As a company, and as individuals, we are passionate about enriching and delighting the world with foods and brands that matter. We understand people care about how the foods they eat are grown and made. Therefore, environmentally sustainable practices are a crucial part of ensuring our brands remain relevant with consumers. At the heart of our sustainability efforts is a desire to create a better tomorrow. We do this by helping communities and families thrive and by enriching the environment.

View full Climate Policy and Methodology

As a global, plant-based food company, we know we have a responsibility to engage our supply chain, our suppliers and our industry to drive faster, more effective action to combat deforestation. We have focused our deforestation-related efforts on palm oil, soy and paper and pulp. Although we are a small user of palm oil and soy from high risk regions, these commodities have been identified through materiality assessments and stakeholder consultations as having significant social and environmental risk.

Though deforestation is a global issue, the solutions and actions to curb it must be regionally relevant. It is through this lens that we can accelerate our efforts to protect remaining forests, restore degraded areas and direct funding and investment to efforts that will provide the greatest impact. Using the framework of “Protect, Restore and Fund,” we will deliver nature-based solutions that take into account both environmental and social elements at the global and local level. We will partner with suppliers, farmers, peers, customers, civil society, communities and governments to protect vulnerable, biodiverse areas and ecosystems. We will work collaboratively to restore degraded forest landscapes and we will fund on the ground efforts to achieve these goals. We know that these are steps in the right direction and achieving a positive forest future will take time, money, effort and the participation of many. 

View full Deforestation Global Policy

As an organization and as individuals, we fully commit to global Environment, Health and Safety (EHS) policies that protect our people, partners, customers, consumers, communities and the environment that surrounds us.

View full Environment, Health and Safety Policy

As a global food company, we believe we have a significant role to play in helping to end hunger, achieve food security, improve nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture. We’re committed to supporting the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 2-Zero Hunger and U.N. Development Goal 12.3. to halve per capita global food waste at the retail and consumer level, and to reduce food losses along the production and supply chains including post-harvest losses by 2030.

A critical element of our work to support food security and help eradicate hunger is helping to eliminate food waste from the global food system. Please see our Food Waste Position Statement above for more information.

View full Food Loss and Waste Methodology

As a global food company, we play a significant role in helping to end hunger and create sustainable food systems to feed a growing population. We recognize that our work can support food security and help eradicate hunger by eliminating food waste from our value chain, while helping to ensure there is enough nutritious food for all. To learn more about our commitment, approach and progress, view our Food Loss and Waste page.

View full Food Loss and Waste Position

Apex Companies LLC conducts an independent third party limited assurance of global food loss and waste data by Kellogg Company.

View 2022 Food Loss and Waste Verification

Kellogg Company prohibits involuntary labor, including forced, indentured, bonded, slave or human-trafficked labor (“Involuntary Labor”), within our business operations and our supply chain. Involuntary labor is a pervasive and insidious global issue that directly and negatively impacts basic human rights. We are committed to protecting human rights and maintaining an ethical and transparent supply chain, free of Involuntary Labor. As part of doing so, we have embedded our commitment into our Global Supplier Code of Conduct (“Supplier Code”) and Global Code of Ethics (“Employee Code”).

View full Forced Labor Policy

Our Global Code of Ethics is a shared set of values and policies to which all employees are expected to adhere. 

View full Global Code of Ethics

As our company has grown so has our global reach and, by extension, our responsibilities to the people and communities that we serve, including our consumers, employees, suppliers, and all those involved in and affected by our operations. This is why we have the same expectations for all of our supply chain partners and their operations as we do for ourselves.

This Global Supplier Code of Conduct outlines the standards and business practices we require all of our direct and extended Suppliers to adhere to in all aspects. The scope of this requirement includes all tiers of suppliers, manufacturers, contractors, joint venture partners, agents, distributors, and consultants (each a “Supplier” and collectively “Suppliers”). It also extends to parent, subsidiary, agents, subcontractors, and affiliate entities and applies to all employees, including permanent, temporary, contract, foreign, or migrant workers (each an “Employee” and collectively “Employees”). It is the Supplier’s responsibility to ensure compliance with both the intent and letter of this Code among all Employees and throughout its supply chain, including all sub-tier suppliers/individuals, through dissemination, education, and verification. 

View full Global Supplier Code of Conduct

View full Global Supplier Code of Conduct Resource Guide

We understand consumers have questions and strong preferences about the foods they eat. Many influential regulatory agencies and organizations worldwide that study the safety of the food supply have confirmed that genetically modified (GM) ingredients are safe. This approach adds desirable traits from nature, without introducing anything unnatural or using chemicals, so that food is more plentiful. GM ingredients have been around for the past 20 years, are represented in the vast majority of the foods on grocery shelves in the U.S. and many other countries, and help keep food costs down. They also help feed the hungry and malnourished in developing nations.

In some markets around the world, we do not use GM ingredients based on input from our consumers and local availability. For U.S. consumers who prefer an alternative, our Kashi brand offers a variety of Non-GMO Project Verified options. Kellogg also supports U.S. legislation to establish a federal standard for companies that want to voluntarily label their foods for the absence or presence of GMO food ingredients.

We continue to actively monitor the science, regulations and our consumers’ preferences on this topic.

Kellogg's greenhouse gas emissions (Scopes 1, 2 and 3) and energy consumption have been independently verified by Apex Companies LLC.

View Greenhouse Gas Emissions (Scopes 1, 2 and 3) FY2022 Verification

View Greenhouse Gas Emissions (Scopes 1, 2 and 3) FY2021 Verification

The Kellogg Grower Survey, a tool to measure continuous improvement over agronomic, environmental and social indicators – has been used since 2016 and reaches approximately 2,000 farmers annually. 

View the 2021 Kellogg Grower Survey

In 2020, Kellogg published our updated Global Human Rights Policy. This policy highlights salient human rights risks within our operations and global supply chain and details our refreshed human rights strategy for how we are working to mitigate and remediate these issues. These risks were identified through a detailed internal materiality analysis and with the support of third-party consulting firm ELEVATE. This policy supplements our other foundational policies, the Global Supplier Code of Conduct and Policy Statement Prohibiting Involuntary Labor, that guide our operations and inform our expectations for supplier and supply chain partnerships. The annual Human Rights Milestones Report outlines our progress in this area, and also satisfies legislative reporting, including the UK Modern Slavery Act.

View full Global Human Rights Policy

View 2021 Human Rights Milestones Report

Kellogg uses less than 0.1% of the global palm oil produced. Despite our small footprint in this commodity, Kellogg has been on a journey to responsibly source palm oil since 2009. As a global, plant-based food company, we have a responsibility to engage our suppliers, supply chain and industry to drive faster, more effective action to protect the environment and advance the cause of human rights. We continue to evolve our strategies and actions to incorporate best practices and learnings from our own experiences, as well as those of our suppliers, peer companies and industry organizations. To learn more about our commitment, approach and progress, view our Palm Oil page. 

View full Palm Oil Global Policy

View Latest Palm Oil Milestones

View 2021 Mill List

People care about where their foods come from, who grows and makes it, and how they and the planet are cared for along the way. With this in mind, Kellogg wanted to demonstrate to people shopping and eating their foods that the ingredients are responsibly sourced. Responsibly sourced means that Kellogg is acknowledging environmental and social best practices that are in place at the grower and supplier (e.g. flour mill) levels.

Kellogg has a commitment to responsibly source its 10 priority ingredients by 2020. Through this commitment, Kellogg has multiple programs in place to engage suppliers and farmers on social and environmental criteria. Annually, approximately 70 global suppliers are engaged in measuring continuous improvement across the row crop priority ingredients – corn, wheat, rice, potatoes, sugar beet, and fruits (strawberries and raisins). 

View full Responsibly Sourced Claim Verification Protocol and Guidance

The group verification methodology was established in order to make a claim on a volume that comes from a group, wherein the growers can be considered homogenous in terms of growing practices and contexts.

By introducing a group verification model, we are shifting away from the need to have farm data from 100% of all HA supplying to Kellogg’s. The group verification aims to represent what is happening at a field level, for a whole group. Thus, by taking information from a sample of the members within the group, we are able to paint a picture about the situation of the group overall.

The methodology described below takes a two- step approach. Firstly, the overall risk of a group is defined via a risk assessment. The outcome of this risk assessment dictates the second part of the process – gathering information from the field. This is done via a sampling method, similar to the sampling methods used in recognized industry standards. The size of the sample is dependent on the identified risk level of the group.

View full Responsibly Sourced Group Verification Methodology

Kellogg recognizes that smallholder farmers play a critical role in global food supply, first for themselves and their families, but increasingly for broader food security opportunities in rural or impoverished communities. Kellogg recognizes the key role smallholder farmers play in food security in their communities and is assessing how our supply chain can improve productivity and livelihoods.

Kellogg also recognizes that women play a significant role in agriculture, but in some countries still face challenges of injustice and inequality. Kellogg is identifying the parts of our supply chain with the highest prevalence of women, while identifying the risks and opportunities they face, depending on their communities and regions.

Kellogg worked with TechnoServe, a nonprofit organization with deep expertise creating business solutions to poverty, to produce directional estimates of smallholder and female participation in Kellogg’s supply chain and to complete an analysis of risks to smallholder farmers and women in the markets and crops we source.

View full Smallholder Farmers and Women Impact Assessment

Kellogg Company has fully allocated the net proceeds from its inaugural sustainability bond issued in May 2021. The proceeds allocated to Kellogg’s eligible global sustainability projects support significant progress already made against the company’s Better Days Promise to create better days for 3 billion people by the end of 2030.

View the 2022 Sustainability Bond Impact Report

Kellogg continues to be committed to supporting the 10 principles of the United Nations Global Compact, advancing them as part of our Better Days Promise ESG strategy. 

View annual communication of progress (CoP) letter

In 2021, we met 100% of responsible sourcing goals for natural vanilla with the conclusion of our three-year partnership with our supplier, Symrise, in Madagascar. Though our vanilla sourcing volumes have decreased since 2015, when we first named vanilla a priority ingredient for our responsible sourcing goals, we are proud to continue this partnership and support people and the planet in a critical vanilla production region.

Environmental and social innovations and results from this program are detailed in our 2019 Responsible Sourcing Milestones, 2020 Responsible Sourcing Milestones, and 2020 Human Rights Milestones. Due both to the successes of this program and a significant decrease in materiality to Kellogg’s ingredient sourcing, we have retired vanilla from our priority ingredients for responsible sourcing under our Better Days ESG platform for 2030.

Apex Companies LLC conducted an independent third party limited assurance of global water consumption by Kellogg Company.

View Water Efficiency 2022 Verification

Around the globe, freshwater resources are under pressure from climate change, population growth, industrial and agricultural uses, and aging or inefficient infrastructure. High-water stress regions occur where there’s competition and potential conflict among water users, including human and ecological uses, taking into account total water supply and consumptive demand. Increasingly, businesses and communities are recognizing the critical importance of preserving and protecting water supplies. At Kellogg, we respect the human right to water as defined by the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and General Assembly. For more information about our commitment, approach and progress, visit our Water Efficiency page. 

View full Water Risk Assessment Methodology

Kellogg is committed to creating better days for 3 billion people by the end of 2030, in part by nourishing 1 billion people with our foods. As one of the most reputable global food brands, we understand our role in leading the change in the worldwide food system towards more sustainable and equitable access to food for all. This commitment ensures that people consuming our foods frequently are getting both meaningful positive nutrition while not exceeding nutrition criteria as outlined in our Kellogg Global Nutrition Criteria for sodium, saturated fat and sugar. 

View Global Wellbeing Milestones

View U.S. Wellbeing Milestones

W.K. Kellogg set the tone for our continued commitment to protecting and promoting consumer confidence when he put his name on every product as a personal assurance of quality. We continue to be committed to responsibly marketing and communicating the intrinsic quality of our brands so that our consumers can make informed choices.

View full Worldwide Marketing and Communications Guidelines