Tracking with the Sustanaible Development Goals

Monsanto Company has released its 2016 Sustainability Report : 'Growing Better Together'. Highlights include Monsanto’s actions to mitigate and adapt to climate change through collaborative efforts, the advancement of its biodiversity position and its alignment with the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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Monsanto Company is a publicly traded American multinational agrochemical and agricultural biotechnology corporation with more than 20,000 dedicated employees with a focus on making a balanced meal accessible to everyone

To help tackle a number of challenges impacting agriculture today, Monsanto's team works hand-in-hand with farmers, researchers, nonprofit organizations, universities and many others to find and develop solutions for sustanaible agriculture (visit: Pursuing Sustanaible Agriculture). 

DIMENTIONS for ACTION

Monsanto …

SEEDS

... uses plant breeding and biotechnology to create seeds that grow into stronger, more resilient crops that require fewer resources.

CROP PROTECTION

... looks at the issues that might affect future crop growth and works with others to help create solutions to protect plant health and minimize environmental impact.

VEGETABLES

... combines traditional plant breeding with modern techniques to produce vegetable seeds that help farmers better withstand nature’s challenges.

DATA

... shares real-time weather and specific field data with farmers to provide them with the information they need to make the best decisions for their farm throughout the growing season.

The Monsanto’s Sustainability Report 'Growing better together' is aligned across three broad areas – PeoplePlanet and Company.

The report was prepared in accordance with the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) G4 voluntary Sustainability Reporting Guidelines and includes Monsanto’s UN Global Compact Communication on Progress.

The report provides an overview of how the company’s work contributes to achieving the 17 UN SDGs (and associated 169 targets) - a universal call to action to address the world’s most pressing economic, social and environmental challenges. 

To that end, Monsanto identified nine SDGs where it can have the most impact:

These SDGs will continue to inform the company’s sustainability strategyactions and resource allocation decisions.

Other highlights from the 2016 report include the following:

People

  • Reached approximately 7 million people with Off-the-Job Safety content through in-person events and social media efforts.
  • Maintained an excellent occupational safety record, including an injury severity rate of .53, which represents a 48 percent improvement since 2011.
  • Helped 250,000 rural community members in India adopt healthy and hygienic lifestyles as part of Monsanto’s WBCSD Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) pledge.

Planet

  • Made significant progress in the company’s multi-pronged approach to achieving a carbon neutral operational footprint by 2021 and in promoting climate-smart agriculture practices.
  • Attained 89 percent of its goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from crop protection operations by 22 percent (per pound of active ingredient) by 2020.
  • Established the Carbon-Neutral Collaborative to help develop a scalable and verifiable carbon accounting framework for the agriculture industry.
  • Commissioned and publicly shared a third-party study showing that widespread adoption of recommended agricultural practices could potentially absorb more carbon than 2.5 billion tree seedlings grown for 10 years, in the U.S. alone.
  • Published company position on biodiversity, which formalizes its long-standing advocacy for biodiversity and is aligned with the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity.
  • Attained 47 percent of goal to increase irrigation water application efficiency across its global seed production operation by 25 percent by 2020.
  • Continued working with Conservation International to protect and restore forests, with nearly 42,000 acres already impacted in Brazil and Indonesia since 2008.

Company:

  • Conducted second annual Supplier Sustainability Assessment to weigh the economic, environmental and social profiles and behaviors of strategic suppliers.
  • Reached 100 percent implementation of formal community engagement plans at company manufacturing sites around the globe.

The full Monsanto 2016 Sustainability Report and executive summary is available online HERE.

To learn more about Monsanto, please visit: Monsanto Global Effortsdiscover.monsanto.com  and monsanto.com.

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FAO Environmental and Social Standards