Kraft Heinz Expands Sustainability Push After Unilever Bid

CHICAGO - Kraft Heinz rebuffed recently in its bid to buy Unilever, is investing $200 million in an expanded corporate social responsibility program that includes a pledge to fight malnutrition and decrease its environmental footprint.

The Kraft Heinz announcement comes about a month after the company pulled a $143 billion bid to buy Unilever. A major point of concern, particularly in Europe, was whether the Anglo-Dutch consumer-products giant’s focus on “brands with purpose” would survive the relentless cost cutting that is the hallmark of 3G Capital, the private equity firm that manages Kraft Heinz.

Now, Kraft Heinz is pledging to donate 1 billion nutritious meals to people in need by 2021, improve the sustainability of its supply chain and reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 15 percent. The cheese-and-condiment maker, created in a 2015 merger orchestrated by 3G and Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc., has had a corporate-responsibility program since last year and has been working to broaden its targets over the past several months. Tuesday’s announcement wasn’t prompted by backlash to the Unilever approach, according to Chief Executive Officer Bernardo Hees.

The corporate responsibility program has “been embedded into our company vision since Day One and is unrelated to any transaction,”

Source: Kraft Heinz, Bloomberg