Global producer, marketer and distributor Fresh Del Monte released its 2022 sustainability report, as the company reaffirms its “steadfast commitment to conserving the planet." 

One of the report’s biggest milestones is launching the new line extension, Del Monte Zero Pineapple, a carbon-neutral pineapple that offsets carbon emissions from farm to market as certified by SCS Global Services. 

SCS Global Services is a global leader in third-party environmental and sustainability verification, certification, auditing, testing, and standards development.

The Zero Pineapple certification is a long-standing program of carefully curated farms that incorporate conservation and reforestation areas to sequester CO2 in situ, a nature-based solution called insetting. 

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The company’s 20,000-acre forest containing approximately five million trees neutralizes emissions produced by the Del Monte Zero pineapple. 

A trained group of Fresh Del Monte team members tracks and measures the company’s forests biannually to ensure the amount of certified carbon-neutral pineapple boxes equates to the carbon dioxide sequestered through such conservation activities.

“As a global agribusiness, sustainability is ingrained in our identity and we recognize the urgency of action needed to continue fortifying our operations against the changing climate,” says Chief Sustainability Officer, Senior Vice President, Research and Development  and Agricultural Services, Hans Sauter.

Additionally, in 2022, Fresh Del Monte achieved a 26% decrease in its Scope 1 and 2 emissions, largely attributed to optimizing fertilizer usage, fuel consumption, and facility heating adjustments.

This puts the firm at an impressive 94% completion rate toward its Science Based Target initiative-approved Scope 1 and 2 emissions reduction goal of 27.5% compared to a 2020 base year. 

The company also planted 574,800 trees, and 29.7% of its owned farms now implement regenerative agriculture farming practices.