ADM (NYSE: ADM) has announced an ambitious new plan to reduce its absolute greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent and its energy intensity by 15 percent by 2035.

“Every single day, ADM is focused on keeping its employees healthy and safe while simultaneously ensuring we are continuing to support the world’s food supply,” said Chairman and CEO Juan Luciano. “At the same time, we believe it remains vitally important that we continue to plan for the future and remain good long-term stewards of our company and our planet. We know that the health of our natural resources is critical to our future. Consumers around the world know it as well, and they are making it clear that they expect their food and drink to come from sustainable ingredients, produced by companies that share their values. We care deeply about our partners, our customers, our employees, our shareholders, and the planet, and that is why we are setting these ambitious emissions and energy goals for ourselves. Our future will be stronger for these goals.”

The new goals follow on ADM’s original “15x20” plan, unveiled in 2011, in which the company committed to per-unit improvements in energy use, greenhouse gas emissions, water and waste to landfill by 2020. After meeting those goals ahead of schedule, ADM engaged WSP Global, one of the world's leading engineering professional services firms, to conduct an in-depth feasibility study to help shape a new set of commitments to combat climate change. WSP’s study, which can be read here, identified several pathways toward success, including:

• Purchasing renewable electricity;
• Increasing use of biomass fuels;
• Transportation fleet changes; and
• Equipment changes in some locations.

“Our new goals are ambitious yet achievable,” Luciano continued. “The greenhouse gas emissions we’ll save will be the equivalent of those from charging every single smart phone on the planet 250 times. This is going to have a real impact, and is a key way in which we’re going to continue to give our customers an edge in meeting the market challenges of today and tomorrow.”

ADM’s new goals are only one element of a wide-ranging plan to pave the way on sustainability. In 2019, ADM’s Board formed a new committee on Sustainability and Corporate Responsibility, offering guidance, leadership and oversight at the highest level for its sustainability and corporate citizenship efforts. The company is increasingly using technology—such as satellite imagery—as it maps its supply chains. And in December, ADM was shortlisted as a Sustainability Champion by the Food Ingredients Innovation awards for its work promoting and supporting sustainable agricultural practices among more than 12,000 smallholder farmers in Brazil and Paraguay.