PHILADELPHIA, March 09, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- AgroFresh Solutions Inc. (NASDAQ: AGFS) (“AgroFresh” or the “Company”), a global leader in produce freshness solutions devoted to fighting food loss and waste, today released its first Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) report. The report kicks off a larger initiative that renews AgroFresh’s commitment to a range of future sustainability goals. This builds on past achievements and reinforces the Company’s dedication to its global customers to deliver products, services and solutions that sustainably help improve produce quality and reduce food loss and waste.
This year's ESG report provides a transparent view into AgroFresh's sustainability performance across a number of key ESG areas, including benchmarks aligned with the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs). According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, nearly 33 percent of food is lost or wasted, and upwards of 50 percent of fruits and vegetables perish before being consumed. AgroFresh is leading the charge with solutions and services devoted to tackling this issue. The Company embraces all 17 UN SDGs and has specifically addressed five of them - UN SDGs 2, 9, 10, 12, and 13 - within the ESG report to provide context around its sustainability initiatives.
Highlights of the ESG report include:
- Addressing Hunger and Promoting Sustainable Agriculture: Through the deployment of produce freshness products such as SmartFresh™, Harvista™ and our latest line of plant-based coatings VitaFresh™ Botanicals, AgroFresh solutions help to extend the shelf life of produce, mitigating the amount of food lost or wasted, and increasing the availability and access to fresh produce in global markets.
- Promoting Innovation: AgroFresh's team of more than forty scientists have fostered innovation, including digital AgTech platforms under FreshCloud™ that use machine learning and AI to enable advancements in supply chain sustainability.
- Ensuring Sustainable Global Consumption and Production Patterns: Thanks to AgroFresh's SmartFresh solution, well over 250,000 metric tons (half a billion pounds) of apples have been sold at retail rather than sent to the landfill in France, Italy and the U.S. alone, and over 2.5 million metric tons of water has been saved from reduced apple spoilage.
- Taking Action to Combat Climate Change and Its Impacts: AgroFresh's SmartFresh technology has been shown to yield an annual reduction of 800 thousand metric tons of CO2, which is equivalent to emissions from approximately 170 thousand cars a year. AgroFresh's Spanish operations alone have reduced CO2 emissions by 35.3 metric tons from 2015 to 2020 through the implementation of AgroFresh's product packaging recycling program.
In addition to the release of the ESG report, AgroFresh is launching a set of ESG commitments to achieve by 2027. The announcement builds on AgroFresh’s leadership in reducing global food waste and reinforces its commitment to sustainability efforts across the food chain that lessen the impact on the environment.
“AgroFresh's commitment to sustainability is at the very core of what we do, and our focus on ESG goes hand-in-hand with our mission of ensuring produce freshness and reducing food waste on a global scale,” said Clint Lewis, Chief Executive Officer of AgroFresh. “We firmly believe that reducing post-harvest losses of already-produced food is more sustainable than increasing production to compensate, and our solutions have helped keep countless tons of quality produce from being wasted. Looking ahead, we will continue to hold ourselves accountable and leverage our products, services and technical expertise to serve our customers and help address their sustainability goals, as well as focus our innovation efforts to develop and bring to market new solutions that maximize produce freshness and help reduce food loss and waste.”
These commitments include:
- A focus on continued innovation, with 100% of our R&D investments in new technology platforms and solutions devoted to developing products and services that support customers’ environmental, water conservation and food waste goals, and to develop and drive the adoption of new sustainable, natural, plant-based and/or biological solutions.
- The reduction of AgroFresh’s environmental impact, including its own emissions and efforts to account for overall emissions across the Company’s value chain.
- Contribute to the improving representation of gender and racial/ethnic diversity in global agriculture by strengthening the diversity in its global workforce through targeted recruitment efforts and partnering with industry groups and organizations that are focused on improving diversity at all levels in the agriculture industry.
- Making an impact at a local level, through the dedication of employee time and expertise for community impact, raising awareness and engagement with non-profit organizations that advance the mission of food security and food waste prevention.
The Company is committed to tracking its ESG performance and providing regular updates on the progress towards achieving these goals. Learn more about AgroFresh’s ESG commitments on AgroFresh.com and through AgroFresh’s social channels.
About AgroFresh
AgroFresh (Nasdaq: AGFS) is an AgTech innovator and global leader with a mission to prevent food loss/waste and conserve the planet’s resources by providing a range of science-based solutions, data-driven digital technologies and high-touch customer services. AgroFresh supports growers, packers and retailers with solutions across the food supply chain to enhance the quality and extend the shelf life of fresh produce. The AgroFresh organization has 40 years of post-harvest experience across a broad range of crops, including revolutionizing the apple industry with the SmartFresh™ Quality System for more than 20 years. This is powered by a comprehensive portfolio that includes plant-based coatings, equipment and proprietary solutions that help improve the freshness supply chain from harvest to the home. Visit agrofresh.com to learn more.
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ICR Inc.
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