Barilla’s onto a good thing with sustainability strategy

Right from the start, the Italian food company Barilla has combined the achievement of economic goals with social commitments to the areas in which it operates. Knowledge of social and economic contexts together with integrity, transparency and innovation, enabled the founders to identify their own entrepreneurial style, and hand it down from generation to generation.

In Barilla the words “sustainability” calls for a unique and distinctive way of doing business: “Good for you, Good for the Planet”. That is, taking simultaneously into account economic, social, environmental aspects through the entire supply chain, in whatever the company does. This is a strong identity that expresses the company’s contribution to the sustainable development of the communities and the Planet, and it is an expression of its scrupulous attention to the quality of the products and processes that are an everyday part of the work of the Group.

“Good for You, Good for the Planet” is the only way that Barilla has identified to grow and doubling its business in the years to come, and through which it aims to strengthen its presence in existing markets and expand into emerging ones. Barilla adopted, as a reference model, the “Double Pyramid” developed by Barilla Center for Food & Nutrition Foundation in 2010. The Double Pyramid is a graphic tool that connects the nutritional features of a food with its environmental impacts. The model shows that foods recommended as the staple food in the Mediterranean diet – like fruits, vegetables, legumes, olive oil and grains, like pasta, standing at the basis of the Food Pyramid on the left– are also the foods with a lower impact on the environment (reflected by the Environmental Pyramid on the right).

Barilla defined its Sustainable Business strategy based on three strategic directions: Good for You, Good for the Planet and Good for the Communities.

“Good for You” means:
- the promotion of healthy lifestyles and sustainable food and the continuous improvement of existing products;
- the launch of new products in line with the Double Pyramid model.

“Good for the Planet” means:
- responsible management of greenhouse gas emissions and water consumption at Barilla factories:
- 100% raw materials purchased applying process which improve sustainability in the supply chain;
- Development of sustainable cultivation in projects for all strategic supply chains.

“Good for the Communities” means:
- Promoting healthy eating education for young people and supporting youth entrepreneurship in the world of food;
- Encouraging access to food and food security;
- Supporting populations struck by natural disasters through the timely provision of emergency food.

Following this way of doing business, Barilla has set these goals for the coming years:
- GOOD FOR YOU: by 2020 Barilla will improve people’s lives by promoting consumer choices in line with the food pyramid.
- GOOD FOR THE PLANET: by 2020 Barilla will offer people only products at the bottom of the environmental pyramid.
- GOOD FOR COMMUNITIES: by 2020 Barilla will promote the inclusion of people through programs for access to food, educational projects and the promotion of diversity.

2015 Highlights
- Since 2012 Barilla has reformulated more than 100 products reducing the fat and salt level.
- In 2014 the Group has reduced respectively salt and fat in 25,000 and 13,000 tons of product.
- Barilla has reduced the CO2 emissions and the water consumption per ton of finished product of 20% compared to 2010 and today 100% of its supply chains have a defined sustainability project.
- Barilla every year donates thousands of tons of finished products to people in need: 2,027 tons in 2014;
- The Group has involved almost 40,000 young people with education projects on food since 2009.

To discover more on Barilla new GRI G4 Report and its digital dedicated platform, click here.