Today, The Wendy's Company released its 2021 Corporate Responsibility report, outlining progress under the Company's Good Done Right platform focus areas of Food, People and Footprint. The report announces Wendy's® newly formalized Diversity, Equity and Inclusion goals and shares progress on the Company's climate roadmap and sustainable packaging goals. In the report, the Company also details its Board of Directors' decision to tie executive compensation to Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) performance, with a portion of Company executives' 2022 incentive compensation linked to Wendy's achievements against its Food, People and Footprint goals.
"Advancing our Good Done Right goals is a team effort, and I'm incredibly proud of the progress we made in 2021," said Chief Corporate Affairs and Sustainability Officer Liliana Esposito. "We continue to work to meet the high expectations our stakeholders have for Wendy's through cross-functional collaboration across our System, which includes employees, franchisees, suppliers and industry partners."
The report demonstrates progress against the Company's corporate responsibility goals announced in 2021 and includes the following highlights:
- Food: Defining Responsible Sourcing goal focus areas and investing further in food safety and quality innovation. Wendy's evaluated the environmental and social impacts associated with each of the Company's top 10 priority food categories, validating each of the categories' inclusion on the priority list, and defined key metrics to measure progress as part of the Company's goal to responsibly source its top 10 priority food categories in the U.S. and Canada by 2030. Wendy's also continued to invest in food safety and quality innovation, launching its enhanced global Food Safety Assessment program in partnership with EcoSure®, a division of Ecolab®, and testing new technologies, such as augmented reality smart glasses, to further enhance its Quality Assurance program.
- People: Formalizing DE&I goals and continuing work to find forever homes for children in foster care. Wendy's established an Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, led by the Company's Vice President, Chief Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer, and solidified five areas the Company will focus on in the coming years. Through this work, Wendy's aims to increase the representation of underrepresented populations among the Company's leadership and management, as well as the diversity of franchisees. The Wendy's System also raised more than $22.5 million for its signature cause, the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption®, which helps fund adoption professionals who are dedicated to finding loving, permanent homes for children waiting in foster care.
- Footprint: Increasing cup recyclability, consumer recycling education and climate transparency. As part of the Company's goal to sustainably source 100% of its customer-facing packaging in the U.S. and Canada by 2026, Wendy's collaborated with packaging and plastics industry leaders to move from plastic-lined paper cups with limited recyclability to single-substrate, clear plastic drink cups that more customers will be able to recycle. Additionally, the Company joined the How2Recycle® label program in the U.S. and Canada to educate consumers by adopting the organization's on-package label, which provides information on the proper ways to dispose of and recycle packaging. For the first time, Wendy's also reported 2020 Climate data to CDP, a leading disclosure practice for environmental reporting, receiving a B score on the submission, an important step as the Company prepares to set a science-based target to track and reduce emissions in its operations and supply chain and to disclose Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions in 2023 in alignment with that target.
Wendy's continues to report against recognized frameworks including the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) and United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and will continue sharing progress updates in the Company's future reports and in other public communications.
For more information on Wendy's corporate responsibility work, please visit https://www.wendys.com/whatwevalue.