The Oatly Sustain- ability Plan
Change of plans!
We're at an important time in history. As companies and governments across the globe are taking a step back, we choose to go in the opposite direction and update our sustainability plan to be, in many ways, even more ambitious. This means a change from our former plan, based on the following:
You can't care about the planet without thinking about the climate, and you can't separate the climate from nature. If you work for nature, you must include people. And if you care about people, nutrition is key.
In other words, we’re broadening our sustainability goals to reflect the interdependence between nutrition, people, nature, and climate. Which, when you think about it, makes total sense since our mission is to make it easier for people to eat better and live healthier lives without recklessly taxing the planet's resources.
Looking for trouble!
Broadening our goals to involve more areas might be ambitious, but it also sets us up for more challenges along the way. That’s OK; we won't let fear of failure prevent us from pushing the envelope of what's considered possible. And by focusing on the areas where we know we can make a difference, we'll continue to make sure our ambitions are grounded in reality. Since reality is never perfect, implementing our sustainability plan is a continuous work in progress.
Building and maintaining our global product portfolio of nutritious and tasty oat-based drinks and foods that help people swap dairy for oats is priority number one, but we wouldn't be us if we were content with "only" making great products. Here, you can read an overview of how we will work within the four areas of Climate, Nature, People, and Nutrition to help futureproof the food system. For the complete list of targets and ambitions, click the really big button.
Climate
Animal-based products account for about half of global food-related emissions, yet livestock yields less than 20% of global calories and only about 40% of the global protein supply. The world needs products that make the transition to plant-rich diets easy, and that can be part of the solution.
Oatly is the first food and beverage company to become a certified Climate Solutions Company, and we will continue to aspire to reduce our climate footprint per liter to ensure that we have climate solution products that help people avoid emissions when swapping from cow’s milk.
But wait! We are taking a small step back, read this important pop-up!
Here’s how we plan to continue to maximize our Spheres of Influence and focus on reducing our climate footprint per liter:
1.
Our ambition is to invest in regenerative agriculture practices across the equivalent of a third of our oat supply acres by 2030.
2.
Our goal is to use 100% renewable energy (electric + thermal) and sustainable ground transportation in Europe by 2030.
We aspire to contribute to societal net zero by 2050.
4.
Our goal is to reduce our climate footprint by 40% per liter of product by 2030, 70% by 2040 and 89% by 2050. (Baseline 2020).
5.
We will continue to advocate for climate policies that prioritize the role of plant-centric food systems as a crucial climate solution, including challenging subsidies and disrupting the influence of big dairy.
6.
By 2030, our ambition is that at least 90% of our revenue will come from products with at least 60% less climate impact than the average of the milk category in the countries where we operate.
7.
Our ambition is to maintain conversion from cow’s dairy to Oatly resulting in at least 0.5kgCo2e/l avoided emissions per liter sold by 2030.
Nature
Globally, the food industry is the primary driver of biodiversity loss and uses 70% of global freshwater resources. We will continue our work to reduce our water use and improve our packaging, and a lot of focus will be on regenerative agriculture that improves soil health and water quality and reduces the risk of crop failure. By leading on oats (and oat fields), Oatly wants to contribute to a more resilient and resource-efficient food system by doing the following:
Our ambition is to invest in regenerative agriculture practices across the equivalent of a third of our oat supply acres by 2030.
9.
Our ambition is to improve water quality and soil health on farms in Oatly’s oat supply regions.
10.
Our goal is to reduce water withdrawal at Oatly-operated factories to 2.2 liters of water per liter of Oatly produced by 2030.
11.
Our goal is to source packaging that is both made from fully renewable or recycled materials and aligned to the circularity infrastructure within each region.
People
Oatly is not just a brand, we’re a community of people. We are the ones who create our products through every stage of production, and we will continue to prioritize self-care through the safety and well-being of our people, including the communities we operate in. We do so by fostering a culture of safety, diversity and equity (yup, that’s still super important) that empowers everyone to perform at their best and return home safely each day. Here’s how we will support, protect and help people thrive throughout our value chain:
12.
Our goal is to keep our workplaces safe, diverse and equitable: Teams across Oatly reflect the diversity of the countries in which they operate, and the decision-making forums will reflect the Oatly organisation by 2027.
13.
Our Oatly Culture of Care program elevates safety standards, behaviours, and overall well-being to go beyond compliance to create actionable initiatives and raise positive safety observations.
By 2030 our ambition is to financially support at least 100 oat farmers in priority supply sheds to transition to regenerative practices.
Nutrition
Our products are tools for conversion and change, and we will continue to find new ways in which people can benefit from nutrients through oat based products. Scientific evidence supports a shift towards plant-rich diets that benefit human and planetary health. A diet rich in fiber and unsaturated fats that provides the right levels of energy, protein, carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals contributes to a healthy life and reduces the risk of diet-related diseases. For that reason:
15.
Our goal is to continue to use our mastery of oats to make it easy for people to swap from cow’s milk to oat-based products, delivering beneficial oat nutrients to our consumers.
We will continue to work for a level playing field for oat-based dairy and cow’s milk in terms of policies, regulations and recommendations to facilitate the transition towards a plant-centric food system.
17.
Our ambition is to use our voice to inform and promote robust science-based knowledge of oat dairy and healthy and sustainable diets among our supply chain actors, influencers, policy makers and empower our consumers to make healthy choices.
We’re food influencers now.
It can be done, a resilient food system that’s fair, safe and resource-effective and delivers nutrition for everyone within the planetary boundaries. Oatly has grown from a small science-based startup in the south of Sweden to a global company, and our core mission to help fix the food system stays the same. We now have more experience in how to maximize our influence. We will use that influence intentionally in three different levels:
In the areas where we have direct control, we will drive change by caring for the people in our supply chain and create climate solution products with our co-workers, factories and partners.
We can’t do it alone because oats aren’t everything (yes, we just said that), so collaborations are important. For instance, to become a leader in regenerative agriculture, we need to work with both farmers and companies growing other crops that rotate with oats to scale the transition.
In areas we can’t control, we will continue to be an active voice about the impact of food and advocating for plant-based change. We embrace science, experimentation and collaborations to empower this movement which is transforming the food system.
Research shows that reducing reliance on animal-based food is essential in order to effectively address the challenges of climate change, ecosystem degradation, food insecurity, and public health. We’re not saying change will come without challenges. But with products that taste amazing, making it easy to make informed choices about what we eat and drink, we can help lower climate impact, save land and water, and feed more people.
You made it to the end… or did you?
The foundation for achieving our targets is our values, culture, committed leadership and following good business ethics, governance and reporting transparently in line with regulation.
If you want even more sustainability planning. Click the really small button.
Read our sustainability update describing progress against our former plan. We will follow this revised plan starting with the 2025 update.
For questions, collaborations, or provocations, please go to our contact page. If you're selling stuff, please also go to our contact page.
Our lawyers would like to inform you that we still can’t predict the future.
This plan is provided for informational purposes only and the plan and commitments that we make herein are subject to the qualifications and disclaimers contained herein and on our website, which should be read in conjunction with this disclaimer. This plan also contains forward-looking statements regarding our future business expectations and objectives and our environmental, social and governance goals. All statements in this plan that do not relate exclusively to matters of historical fact should be considered forward-looking statements and such forward-looking statements involve risks, uncertainties, subjective judgment, and analysis that reflects our expectations. Actual results may differ materially from the results anticipated depending on a variety of important factors, including without limitation the risks detailed in our filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Relatedly, there is no guarantee that we will achieve our environmental, social and governance goals nor that such goals, whether or not those goals are met, will ultimately have a positive impact, either on particular environmental, social and governance matters or as a whole.
In relation to the information and data contained in this plan, we are (wholly or in part) reliant on public sources of information and information provided by our suppliers and business partners. Further, our ability to verify such information (whether now, in the past, or in the future) may be limited by the integrity of the underlying data available at the relevant point in time and the status and evolution of global, supranational and national laws, guidelines, methodologies, best practices and regulations in relation to the tracking and provision of such data, and we may not update historical information for changes in our practices, approaches or methodology. Therefore, such information is provided on a reasonable efforts basis and is subject to change.
Further, this plan may contain information that is not necessarily “material” under federal securities law for U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission reporting purposes, but it is informed by various environmental, social and governance standards and frameworks and the interest of various stakeholders.