Conagra Brands’ Evol Minimizes Eco Footprint With Carbon-Neutral Frozen Meals
In the latest push toward climate-friendly packaging and manufacturing, Conagra Brands’ Evol has launched carbon-neutral single-serve frozen meals. Eight new offerings will be available starting in June and July, produced in a TRUE certified Zero Waste facility and certified through the Carbonfree program.
The new frozen meals include five cheese alfredo mac with chicken and three vegetarian meals, such as butternut squash and sage ravioli. These items will have a Carbonfree Product Certification seal on the packaging.
Carbonfree products are certified by the Carbonfund.org Foundation and have "net zero" CO2 emissions, allowing brands to measure their carbon footprints over their full product lifecycle, from ingredient sourcing and packaging, to product manufacturing, distribution, and consumer use and end of life.
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Evol commissioned a third-party life cycle assessment to measure the carbon footprint of its new frozen single-serve meals. In order to offset its carbon footprint, the company stated it is investing in renewable wind energy and forest preservation projects verified by Carbonfund.org.
Several other Evol products are already produced in a TRUE Zero Waste facility, which the company said has diverted an average of 90% or greater waste from landfills, or other waste reductions, over the last year.
Other sustainability initiatives include Evol’s packaging — all of its paperboard cartons are fully recyclable. Additionally, the tree fiber the company uses for the cartons is responsibly sourced, according to the Sustainable Forestry Initiative. Evol also pivoted from 100% plastic bowls to paper-based bowls, lowering the carbon footprint of packaging across all products.
Parent company Conagra Brands has committed to ambitious initiatives that will trickle down to its subsidiaries, including reducing Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions by 25% by 2030 — and Scope 3 greenhouse gas emissions from purchased goods and services by 20% per metric ton of material sourced in that same timeframe. These goals move the needle forward to achieve a zero-carbon economy.
Conagra Brands outlined these goals in its Conagra Brands' 2021 Citizenship Report.
“In January 2020, we announced an important goal: to make 100% of our plastic packaging renewable, recyclable or compostable by 2025,” said Conagra Brands President and CEO Sean Connolly in the report. “I am proud that today, approximately 93% of Conagra’s packaging material by volume meets this standard. In addition, our team’s focused work to reduce waste has led to the avoidance of more than 23 million pounds of plastic packaging since fiscal year 2017, including 11 million pounds avoided in fiscal year 2021.”
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According to Eric M. Carlson, president of Carbonfund.org, consumers are increasingly looking to purchase products from companies that are taking care of the environment, and climate change and carbon reductions are major drivers of purchasing decisions.
"Evol's philosophy has always been rooted in making great tasting food while doing what's right," said Jill Dexter, VP/GM of Better for You and Family Meals at Conagra Brands. "The Certified Carbon Neutral status of these eight frozen meals is a visible step in our journey to help protect the environment."
