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Building a happier more inclusive world. One lick at a time.
Wall’s is one of the largest and most loved ice cream brands globally. At the turn of last century, our founders took over streets across the globe to spread their ice-cream magic. The result? Happier hearts opening up to each-other – a true barriers-melting treat! Their vision inspired us to continue to act as leaders in driving social change.
We’ve now set out on a new ice-creamy journey to build a happier more inclusive world, one street at a time. We love our diverse portfolio of products from a Twister to a Cornetto, we have something for everyone! Equally we know this motley crew can drive happiness amongst all age groups and has the ability to melt down barriers between different communities. But we are aiming to go further. We believe we have a huge role to play in driving positive social change by leveraging our business. And here are some of the actions we are taking.
SUSTAINABLE INGREDIENT SOURCING
We aim to enhance the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of smallholder farmers while making our supply of sustainably grown crops secure in the long term. We work directly with around 30,000 smallholders & suppliers which are helping us achieve our aim of sourcing 100% of agricultural raw materials sustainably by 2020. Our global programmes employ a wide range of techniques and methods to encourage sustainable agriculture and increased yields among smallholder farmers. Since 2015, we have taken a holistic approach, focusing our work with smallholders on nutrition, empowering women, finance, and young agricultural entrepreneurs as well as sustainable agriculture practices. We often work with others, including through our global partnership programmes with Oxfam, Acumen, Clinton Giustra Enterprise Partnership, the Ford Foundation, the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), GIZ, PSI, the Rainforest Alliance, and national and local government agencies. An important part of this work is empowering women. If women farmers had the same access to resources as men, agricultural production in the developing world would increase by 2.5 – 4.0% (FAO, 2011). Women represent around half the smallholder farmers in our supply chains, and many of our programmes are focused on women.
Finally, with the goal of further improving economic self-sufficiency and livelihoods, we worked in partnership with Save the Children, Symrise & GIZ to break the cycle of poverty in Madagascar. So far, we have reached 40,000 people in 9,000 households, across 76 villages in the Sava region in Madagascar. As well as helping farmers improve their agricultural and business skills, we will increase their access to fair financial services, and provide community education on health, hygiene and child protection.
GREEN FREEZER AND GREEN HOUSE GASES
We are continuing our efforts to roll out energy-efficient cabinets that use climate-friendly hydrocarbon refrigerants. We work with governments, NGOs, industry groups and other manufacturers to bring about further change. The impact of the 3 million freezer cabinets we rely on to reach consumers globally is a significant contributor to the total GHG (Green house gas) footprint of our ice cream business. In 2004, we started pioneering the use of hydrocarbon (HC) refrigerants in our cabinets. Since then, we have been reducing the carbon and energy footprint of our cabinets worldwide, engaging customers on our progress and driving a shift in industry. By the end of 2016, we welcomed 2.3 million freezers containing natural hydrocarbon refrigerants. We are also actively working on deploying cabinets with reduced energy consumption (on average 38% less energy consumed). Some of this reduction is due to the transition to hydrocarbon refrigerants but is also due to the use of lower energy and best in class technologies. Our latest low energy freezer cabinets consume 60% less energy. In the UK in 2018 every single new branded cabinet we place in the market place will be an energy efficient hydrocarbon cabinet - we call them Lean and Green!
Let’s all use the happiness our ice creams create to build a happier, more inclusive world one street at a time! Just as our founders dreamt!
