{"id":12077,"date":"2016-11-04T16:41:59","date_gmt":"2016-11-04T20:41:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/digital.hbs.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/how-climate-change-is-impacting-an-american-icon-heinz-ketchup\/"},"modified":"2016-11-04T16:41:59","modified_gmt":"2016-11-04T20:41:59","slug":"how-climate-change-is-impacting-an-american-icon-heinz-ketchup","status":"publish","type":"hck-submission","link":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/how-climate-change-is-impacting-an-american-icon-heinz-ketchup\/","title":{"rendered":"How Climate Change Is Impacting An American Icon: Heinz Ketchup"},"content":{"rendered":"

Climate Change & Kraft Heinz:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Kraft Heinz, and other companies that rely on agricultural inputs, will be directly impacted by greenhouse gas emission driven climate change. While rising temperatures extend the length of growing seasons and crop yields in the short term, longer growing seasons increase demand on water as this resource becomes more constrained.[1]<\/a> Over the long term, higher temperatures, the resulting increased pest, weed, and parasite issues, and extreme weather conditions are expected to decrease crop yields.[2]<\/a> [3]<\/a>\u00a0A Climactic Change <\/em>study modeling the impact of low and medium to high emission rates suggests by the end of the century a variety of crops ranging from cotton to tomato will experience notably decreased yields.[4]<\/a><\/p>\n

Figure 1: Crop Yield Decline<\/p>\n

\"crop-yields\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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Heinz will fall victim to climate change\u2019s impact on the key input for their signature ketchup production, tomatoes. Beyond concerns of crop shortages and resulting increased costs for tomatoes and other agricultural inputs[5]<\/a>, decreased water availability will put pressure on manufacturing at Heinz.<\/p>\n

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Sustainability Efforts: <\/strong><\/p>\n

Acknowledging their ability to play a role in bettering our world\u2019s environmental positon, Heinz set forth a number of sustainability goals, touting that \u201csustainability is not only better for the planet, but smart business.\u201d[6]<\/a> [7]<\/a>\u00a0 These goals ranged from reducing greenhouse gas\u00a0emissions by 20% (which they surpassed, achieving ~23.8% reduction), to reducing solid waste sent to landfill by 20% (also surpassed, achieving ~51.2% reduction).[8]<\/a> [9]<\/a> Additionally, reducing energy consumption, and increasing use of renewable energy serves a dual purpose of minimizing greenhouse gas\u00a0emissions and minimizing the financial impact of rising energy costs.[10]<\/a><\/p>\n

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Figure 2: Heinz Sustainability\u00a0Achievements<\/p>\n

\"heinz-sustainability\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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Heinz has also made strides in agricultural sustainability. Heinz reduced water consumption by 23% using hybrid tomato seeds requiring less water and drip irrigation minimizing water waste.[11]<\/a> By increasing yields Heinz is able to use less land, translating to less fertilizer, water, and pesticide use.[12]<\/a> Every step of the growing process has been thoroughly evaluated and adjusted to decrease negative impact on the planet, and in turn increase efficiency and eliminate costs for the company.<\/p>\n

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Video 1: Heinz Sustainable Agriculture<\/p>\n