Approach

As we work to deliver against our pep+ agenda, we are embedding life cycle thinking in our product ideation and stage-gate approval processes, with the goal of making new products more sustainable than the previous generation.

Internal collaboration

Embedding sustainable product design practices into our business functions takes close collaboration with key internal partners, including the Research and Development (R&D) and Marketing teams that drive new product development. Sustainability experts help to provide these teams with the knowledge, tools and training to measure products’ environmental impact. This in turn helps to inform decisions about sustainable design alternatives.

Sustainable from the Start

Sustainable from the Start (SftS), an internal product design program, provides life cycle analysis tools to estimate products’ total environmental impact during their early design and development phase. SftS helps decision-makers to understand the sustainability implications of product development and design decisions by estimating potential impacts such as GHG emissions, water consumption, water risk and packaging recyclability. It also establishes guidelines on reducing impacts with changes to alternative ingredients, improved packaging and more sustainable technology and distribution. Results from SftS are then incorporated into the new product development business process for visibility and decision-making. When the SftS process identifies an opportunity between a product and our design standards or long-term sustainability goals – such as non-recyclable packaging – the product team is required to develop a future solution or mitigation plan.

SftS assessment tools were developed in partnership with external sustainability experts and are reviewed and updated annually for accuracy with the best available data.

PepsiCo’s Global Sustainability Office evaluates program progress within our portfolio at category and brand levels. We also collect feedback annually from internal stakeholders with the goal of improving communication, processes and tools.

The program supports the Positive Value Chain and Positive Choices aspects of our pep+ agenda. 

What's next?

We plan to continue assessing the environmental footprint of innovative products with packaging changes or ingredient reformulations through the SftS Program. As PepsiCo continues to work to achieve its pep+ agenda, teams will continue to build on lessons from internal product footprinting tools and identify strategies to shift the beverages and convenient foods categories globally in a more sustainable direction.