General Mills reduced its emissions more than 30% in three years. Now comes the hard part

In less than three years, General Mills has already met its goal for reducing greenhouse gas emissions in its own operations.

That was the easy part.

Achieving a 30% reduction in climate-warming emissions across the company's entire supply chain by 2030 may well require the beginnings of an agricultural revolution.

"We've reduced emissions within our four walls," said Mark McCullough, global impact director for General Mills. "Where we're focusing now are the key climate levers where we have the greatest potential impact: regenerative agriculture, dairy, deforestation, renewable electricity and transportation."

The Golden Valley-based food company released its annual global responsibility report Tuesday along with a new climate plan meant to speed progress toward both its 2030 target and the goal of net-zero emissions by 2050.

By using more renewable energy at its factories and making other changes, General Mills has cut internal emissions nearly in half from a 2020 baseline.

But about 95% of the company's emissions are considered indirect, or Scope 3. Those emissions — 19.2 million metric tons of carbon dioxide-equivalent gases in fiscal 2022 — come from farms, dairies and other suppliers that are outside the company's direct control.

General Mills is incentivizing farmers to adopt regenerative agriculture practices, and the company said it is still aiming to put a million acres under such stewardship by the end of the decade.

"The million acres — and investing in measurements and partnerships — that's going to get us part of the way there, for sure," McCullough said. "We're going to have to find new areas, with technology and transparency in our supply chains, to help us get the rest of the way there."

The company's efforts generally receive high grades from groups that track investor risk based on environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors. Still, rating agency MSCI said General Mills was "misaligned with global climate goals and is in line with a business-as-usual scenario," in terms of global temperature rise, as of last year's report.

The company is still pursuing more renewable energy to reduce emissions in its own operations, and new internal climate teams have been created to more aggressively pursue de-carbonization strategies and "influence supply partners upstream," McCullough said. Much effort to date has been put toward accurately measuring the firm's carbon footprint.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is considering rules for ESG reporting for the first time, which could alter the way companies measure their progress against climate goals. McCullough said the company has been preparing for that possibility and will remain committed to its climate goals.

"A healthy planet is critical for General Mills to continue making food the world loves, and climate change is putting our ability to do so at risk," Mary Jane Melendez, the company's chief sustainability and global impact officer, said in a statement. "While we have more work to do, we've made tremendous progress."