ConAgra Foods, Inc. (NYSE: CAG – News) will participate in several new programs designed to reinforce the company’s commitment to reducing energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. Specifically, ConAgra Foods announced it has joined the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Climate Leaders and ENERGY STAR programs, and participated in the Carbon Disclosure Project for the first time, with results to be published in September.
“Participation in these programs publicly demonstrates ConAgra Foods’ commitment to taking climate change seriously and doing our part to reduce greenhouse gas emissions,” says James Lime, vice president of Environment, Health and Safety, ConAgra Foods. “Our energy conservation efforts are part of our corporate citizenship responsibilities and critical to our success as a business.”
“EPA congratulates ConAgra Foods for joining both the Climate Leaders and ENERGY STAR programs,” says Robert J. Meyers, Principal Deputy Assistant Administrator, EPA’s Office of Air and Radiation. “We look forward to working with representatives from ConAgra Foods to reduce the company’s greenhouse gas emissions and help protect the environment.”
ConAgra Foods is also pursuing energy and greenhouse gas reduction projects aimed at minimizing the carbon footprint of the company’s manufacturing operations. ConAgra Foods’ Lamb Weston business, for example, has purchased renewable energy certificates, known as “Green Tags,” from the nonprofit Bonneville Environmental Foundation (BEF).
These Green Tags will offset 100 percent of the electricity used to power Lamb Weston’s administrative offices in Kennewick and Richland, Wash., and Eagle, Idaho, as well as the electricity used to produce 30 million pounds of ConAgra Foods’ Alexia-branded organic and naturally processed potato products. In total, the Green Tags equal 16,656,000 kilowatt-hours of wind energy entering the national electricity grid.
“This is one of many Lamb Weston initiatives designed to ensure that we preserve and protect vital natural resources by minimizing energy and water usage, and by reducing waste and pollution,” says Mark Hayden, senior vice president of sales and supply chain, ConAgra Foods Lamb Weston. “This is of great importance to both our customers and to our business.”
Green Tags replace traditional sources of energy with clean, renewable wind power, offsetting the environmental effects of burning coal, gas, and other fossil fuels, thereby reducing CO2 emissions.
