299,297 Employees

With roots dating back to 1898, PepsiCo Beverages North America (PBNA) is one of the largest beverage companies in North America today. It is responsible for bringing consumers an unrivaled, iconic portfolio of more than 300 beverage choices, including 10 billion-dollar brands like Pepsi, Gatorade, bubly and Mountain Dew, as well as emerging brands in the fast-growing energy and value-added protein categories.

PepsiCo’s vision is to Be the Global Leader in Beverages and Convenient Foods by Winning with PepsiCo Positive (pep+). pep+ is their strategic end-to-end transformation that puts sustainability and human capital at the center of how they will create value and growth.

Social Impact & Engagement

PepsiCo is charting a new course to drive positive action for the planet and people. A better food system means better outcomes for the Earth, and all of us. The company aims to build a stronger and more sustainable future by operating within planetary boundaries and inspiring positive change for the planet and people.

Positive Agriculture

The goal is a sustainable food system that respects natural resources and makes a positive impact on the people and communities they work with and serve. Their approach to advancing regenerative agriculture comprises of collaboration between stakeholders to advance shared sustainability goals while reconciling and optimizing multiple social, economic and environmental objectives.

PepsiCo is supporting regenerative agricultural practices that aim to make soil healthier, sequester carbon, improve watershed health and biodiversity, and strengthen farmer livelihoods. They’ve been working to measurably improve the health of high water-risk watersheds where they directly source their crops and aim for a more sustainable way to use this resource.

They’ve established sustainable sourcing standards as a baseline expectation for agricultural suppliers, and they’re supporting farmers in making the transition to more sustainable approaches.

They support the advancement of farming practices to optimize crop yields, respect human rights and plan to improve the livelihoods of more than 250,000 people in their agricultural supply chain and communities by 2030.

Positive Value Chain

PepsiCo is building a circular and inclusive value chain to accelerate the systemic change needed to address major global challenges. The company is taking direct action aimed to reduce impacts relating to climate, minimize water use and introduce more sustainable packaging, while also working to increase racial equality and provide meaningful jobs and opportunities.

They are striving to achieve net-zero emissions by 2040, a decade earlier than called for in the Paris Agreement and they’ve set an ambitious interim goal for reducing absolute emissions across the value chain by more than 40% by 2030.

As one of the first companies of this size to acknowledge water as a human right, they have a vision to become "net water positive”, with an approach to watershed management that includes improving water-use efficiency across their value chain: on farms and in manufacturing facilities; replenishing water in the local watersheds that are most at risk and where they operate; and increasing safe water access for communities that face scarcity. Since 2006, they’ve helped more than 59 million people globally gain access to safe water by partnering with leading NGOs and development agencies.

A circular economy for packaging helps ensure that the valuable materials that are used in packaging are recycled and reused, rather than becoming waste. Using renewable or recycled materials also reduces the GHG impact of their packaging, supporting emissions reduction goals.

PepsiCo is committed to building a better workplace and world by advancing human rights and diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) for the people, in their business partnerships and our communities. They focused on increasing the representation of Black and Hispanic associates at PepsiCo, to mirror the workforce availability of the communities, and they’re working to drive long-term change by addressing systemic barriers to economic opportunity and advancing economic empowerment for Black and Hispanic Americans.

They believe that ensuring that women have equal access to employment and promotion is necessary for a prosperous and sustainable society. As part of the commitment to making actionable improvements for women, they are focused on retaining and growing diverse talent through mentoring, coaching and development programs throughout career stages. They have a longstanding review process in place designed to promote pay equity across employee groups.

PepsiCo has been investing in tangible social impact since 1962. Through the PepsiCo Foundation, they’ve been collaborating with industry peers, local and international organizations, nonprofits, and employees around the globe on a mission to build a more sustainable food system and equitable world through the power of community.

Through Food for Good, PepsiCo’s philanthropic global commitment to advance food security, they’re combating worldwide hunger by delivering meals, helping food banks strengthen their operations, providing logistical support and technical expertise in the nutrition field, and supporting long-term food security. Since 2009, the Foundation’s programs and partners have distributed more than 245 million meals.

Stories Worth Sharing

Community Work

PepsiCo has expanded its supplier base and is on track to increase spending with Black and Hispanic suppliers by more than $500 million by 2025. They launched the $50 million Juntos Crecemos platform to strengthen Hispanic-owned businesses (specifically restaurants, bodegas and meat markets), address foundational business challenges and support business growth over five years.

The PepsiCo Foundation created the IMPACTO Hispanic Business Accelerator to provide $10 million in funding to help 500 Hispanic small food and beverage business owners in 13 cities across the U.S., and launched a $10 million investment with the National Urban League (NUL) to launch the Black Restaurant Accelerator Program. Over the course of the five-year program, the PepsiCo Foundation and NUL will provide 500 Black restaurant owners in 12 cities with capital, technical assistance and mentorship services.

PepsiCo and the PepsiCo Foundation created a new $40 million scholarship and professional mentoring program to support Black and Hispanic aspiring and graduating community college students. The program aims to support 4,000 students over five years. 

Food For Good

The Pepsico Foundation has launched a global platform for advancing food security and making nutritious food accessible. As a contributor to meeting pep+ (PepsiCo Positive) commitments, Food for Good has delivered more than 245 million meals to more than 41 million people around the world. They’ve partnered with more than 60 nonprofits across 28 countries to implement local solutions that meet the unique challenges of each community.

METRICS WE LOVE

By The Numbers:

68 million
received safe water access by the PepsiCo Foundation since 2006
100%
renewable energy in the US by 2030
More than 245 million
meals delivered worldwide through Food for Good
$570M
invested in Racial Equality

The WeHero 100

The way companies engage their employees and create impact is more important now than ever before. We face global and societal challenges, and companies have the power to make a difference.

Creating impact and engagement at this scale is incredibly challenging. That's why we felt it was essential to launch the WeHero 100 to highlight the top 100 companies making an impact.

WeHero announces a new company to the WeHero 100 monthly, with the goal of raising awareness and motivating more companies to focus on impact.

Join us in celebrating these change makers!

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