Sustainability: One year of progress

In 2020 we saw a massive acceleration in growth which entailed a significant upscale for our responsibility. In the fourth quarter of 2020 we counted 5.3 million customers. Never have we had the chance to positively impact so many people’s lives, enabling them to eat better, plan their meals smarter and shop for their groceries more sustainably. 

In my last post I mentioned how ESG criteria are becoming increasingly relevant. That’s why this year, we’ve taken our commitments to the next level and have decided to set ourselves first-time, tangible targets in two of the most important and impactful areas of sustainability: 

1. Reducing production facilities carbon emissions per euro revenue by 60 % by 2022 
2. Reducing food waste to landfill or incineration per euro revenue by 50 % by 2022

These targets provide the necessary framework for significantly progressing our efforts and will enable us to set standards for measuring other areas of environmental impact. 

I’d also like to highlight some of the progress we made in these areas in particular. 

Carbon Emissions: 

In 2020, we launched our carbon reduction strategy, including avoiding, reducing and offsetting carbon emissions. The strategy tackles carbon emissions on a large scale, including all emissions caused by our distribution centers and logistics, but also on a smaller scale, like our internal operations and offices.

During 2020, emissions at our production facilities decreased from 9.3 to 4.1 grams per euro of revenue. Having offset all of our direct emissions, we also officially became the first global carbon neutral meal kit company. 

Given our lean and centralized distribution network of production facilities worldwide we already produce fewer carbon emissions on a per euro of revenue basis compared to traditional food retailers. In 2020 our emissions from electricity consumption (scope 2) decreased further, adding up to 3.9 grams of carbon per euro of revenue, down from 7 grams in 2019. This results in 82% less carbon per euro of revenue from electricity consumption than the average food retailer.

Food Waste: 

The reduction and avoidance of food waste is at the core of how HelloFresh operates. Thanks to our lean, make-to-order business model, we generate less waste in general by sourcing exactly the right quantities of ingredients based on consumer orders.

We consider the surplus of food that we generate, with 73% of our total unsold food donated in 2020. Food waste accounts for between 8% and 11% of global greenhouse gas emissions. For every scrap of food that isn’t disposed of properly, we have to consider the energy and invested labor behind it. The impact adds up quickly, so as a meal kit company we are focused on reducing and avoiding food waste. 

It’s been a year since we last made our sustainability efforts public. Since then a lot has happened. Not only has the world been turned upside down, people have never needed new ways to enjoy fresh homemade meals more than they do today. I will continue to post more about the progress HelloFresh has made, so stay tuned. 

You can find our full report here.