{"id":3362,"date":"2020-04-23T14:00:57","date_gmt":"2020-04-23T12:00:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ldc.com\/us\/stories-insights\/a-thirst-for-sustainable-quality\/"},"modified":"2023-05-10T16:11:55","modified_gmt":"2023-05-10T14:11:55","slug":"a-thirst-for-sustainable-quality","status":"publish","type":"stories-insight","link":"https:\/\/www.ldc.com\/us\/en\/stories-insights\/a-thirst-for-sustainable-quality\/","title":{"rendered":"A thirst for sustainable quality"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

New strides for fair & sustainable juice production<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

At LDC, we believe that the best\nquality juice should also be the product of a sustainable and traceable journey\n– from planting the tree to pouring a glass of fresh, tasty juice. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our 2019 Juice Sustainability Report<\/a> outlines our collaborative work to produce juice fairly and sustainably in Brazil – for the welfare of our people, the environment, our partners and the communities near our operations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It all starts with the fruits,\nand the roughly 8,000 people who we directly employ in Brazil to grow and pick them\nat peak harvest season. In 2019, we dedicated over 81,000 hours to training our\nJuice teams in Brazil \u2013 both to support their professional growth and, vitally,\nto ensure their safety and wellbeing. All safety metrics show a positive trend\nbetween 2015 and 2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We also rely on the natural\nenvironment for the key ingredients and resources necessary to grow the high\nquality fruit with which our juice is made. So it is essential that we protect\nthat environment. As part of LDC\u2019s global commitment to reduce the\nenvironmental impact of our operations, our Juice teams work continually to\nreduce CO2<\/sub> emissions, water usage, solid waste sent to landfill, and\nelectricity and energy consumption. In 2019, we achieved carbon neutrality for\nour two main offices in Brazil by planting 1,600 trees to compensate emissions.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We also pursued efforts to\nlink financing with sustainability commitments, signing the first green finance\nagreement in Brazil, with an interest rate mechanism linked to environmental,\nsafety and sustainability certification performance. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Thanks to our different partners – customers, financial institutions, local authorities or NGOs, the impact of our efforts can be much greater. Collaboration is a key principle of the UN\u2019s Sustainable Development Goals, which LDC is committed to advancing” , says Guy Hogge, Head of Sustainability.<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last year also saw advances in farm certification and verification, with 32 out of 38 LDC-managed citrus farms now certified by the Rainforest Alliance<\/em><\/a> and verified as Gold Grade by the Sustainable Agriculture Initiative Platform<\/em>.<\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We are proud to have 84% of the farms we manage certified according to high standards of sustainability. We continue to work to bring this to 100%, and to support third party suppliers in pursuing certification for their own farms. Combined with chain of custody certification, this helps us to assure customers and consumers that the products we offer are responsibly sourced and produced<\/em><\/a>,” says Murilo Parada, Head, Juice Platform and Head, North Latin America Region<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Combining economic development\nwith educational, environmental and community action is also important to LDC.\nWe do this through a wide range of initiatives driven or supported by our employees,\nsuch as hosting university students at our sites to expand their knowledge, environmental awareness and clean-up days,\ncollections and donations for charity, and much more. In 2019, over 1,400 children participated in our annual initiative with local\nschools, \u2018Together for the Environment\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Curious to see our passion for\nhigh-quality, sustainable juice at work behind the scenes? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Discover the journey of our juice<\/a> – from grove to glass, it is all about the detail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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