SHAREHOLDER INPUT AT KRAFT HEINZ
When the Kraft Heinz Co. recently grabbed the market’s attention with an audacious $143 billion bid to buy Anglo-Dutch consumer packaged goods giant Unilever, one subject that interested some observers was how the two corporate cultures might mesh on issues such as sustainability.
Kraft Heinz ended up backing off the Unilever offer, but the issue of the food company’s commitment to being a good citizen of the planet doesn’t appear to be going away as quickly.
Three shareholder proposals will go up for a vote at the company’s annual meeting, slated for mid-April in Pittsburgh, according to a proxy filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday.
Kraft Heinz is recommending that shareholders turn down the requests.
The first proposal calls for the company, dually headquartered in Pittsburgh and Chicago, to issue a comprehensive sustainability report addressing its environmental, social and governance performance and goals. Such a report should, among other things, address issues such as nutrition, obesity and public health.
The proposal cited a 2016 World Health Organization report that it said ranked Kraft and Heinz separately — the companies merged in 2015 — and rated them on nutrition-related issues just above companies with a zero rating.
A second proposal on non-recyclable packaging alleges that products such as Capri-Sun and KoolAid Jammers juice drinks, as well as Heinz pouch pack ketchup, are sold in laminate pouches that can’t be recycled. “They are designed for the dump, not for recycling,” the proposal claimed.
The third proposal demands a report assessing the company’s supply chain impact on deforestation. Consumer packaged goods companies use sugar cane, palm oil and soy, which can spur clearing of swaths of land for planting.
Kraft Heinz said it didn’t need the push from such resolutions. The company noted in the SEC filing it plans to begin producing global corporate social responsibility reports in the second half of 2017.
It listed a number of steps that it is involved with on the sustainability front, including committing to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, energy, water and waste by 15 percent by 2020; working to create consistent recycling instructions on some product packaging; and implementing a global animal welfare policy that commits, among other things, to using cage-free hens to source 100 percent of its eggs.
Also disclosed in the Kraft Heinz proxy, CEO Bernardo Hees earned $5.27 million in total compensation last year, down slightly from $5.37 million in 2015.