Corporate sustainability has become a proving ground for whether large food companies can turn grand promises into measurable progress.
That distinction matters because net-zero pledges and other environmental commitments have increasingly come under scrutiny. JBS USA learned that lesson the hard way when it was fined US$1.1m after saying it would reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2040 without having a plan to get there. The episode has sharpened attention on whether c...
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orporate responsibility statements are backed by action, or simply polished marketing.
For Thai Union Group, which is among the world’s biggest seafood companies, sustainability is being framed as a business discipline rather than a side project. The Bangkok-based group recently received a Top 1% distinction in the S&P Global Sustainability Yearbook 2026 and was ranked first globally in the food products category. Thai Union said it scored 89 out of 100 in the underlying assessment, reflecting what it describes as progress in responsible sourcing, climate action and social safeguards across its supply chain.
S&P Global said the companies included in the yearbook show that sustainability performance can still be measured credibly when it is built into governance, strategy, risk management and day-to-day operational decisions. That message sits neatly with Thai Union’s SeaChange 2030 strategy, a framework built around 11 commitments spanning climate, biodiversity, traceability, labour standards, human rights and circularity.
Adam Brennan, Thai Union’s chief sustainability and communications officer, said the company concentrates on initiatives that produce tangible change. He pointed to the seafood group’s tuna supply chain, where more than 99.9% of sourced tuna is either Marine Stewardship Council certified or on a strong pathway to certification, and more than 95% of the supply chain now has observer coverage, whether human or electronic. Thai Union also says all of its sourced tuna can be traced through digital and paper records back to the vessel or vessel group involved.
The company has also pushed transparency further for consumers. On selected ambient brands, it has introduced a can tracker that allows shoppers to enter a code and follow the product journey on the Chicken of the Sea, Genova, John West, Petit Navire and Mareblu websites.
Unilever, another global food and consumer giant, is taking a different but related approach. The company says sustainability is embedded across procurement, innovation, manufacturing and supply chain decision-making, supported by governance and accountability, while supplier, customer and policy collaboration is essential because many of the most difficult problems cannot be solved by one company alone.
According to Unilever, its priorities are climate, nature, plastics and livelihoods. The company says it has cut Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions by 77% since 2015, is working with suppliers representing about 40% of its Scope 3 emissions through a supplier climate programme, and now runs 34 regenerative agriculture programmes across 17 countries covering roughly 258,000 hectares. It also says it met its 2025 target of using 25% post-consumer recycled plastics in packaging and has continued to reduce virgin plastic use.
Yet Unilever also acknowledges a familiar problem: most emissions sit beyond its direct control. The company says around 98% of its greenhouse gases are in Scope 3, with more than half linked to raw materials and ingredients. That makes collaboration across supply chains, infrastructure and policy frameworks central to progress.
Brennan made a similar point from Thai Union’s perspective, saying the company operates across very different regulatory and commercial realities. Some markets are heavily regulated, others are still developing, and demand for sustainably sourced food does not move in a straight line. His view is that sustainability only works if it is transferable across systems, not limited to the most advanced markets.
That idea, of sustainability that travels well, may prove increasingly important as companies face greater pressure to show that environmental and social commitments are not only ambitious, but operationally grounded and adaptable across regions.
Source: Noah Wire Services
