Interview with Jenna Evans, Global Sustainability Manag… — Transcript

[Music] [Applause] Thank you for joining us for our supercharged September video series. My name is Lisa Drake, and I'm assistant director of fleet electrification at Merchants Fleet. Today, I'm joined by Jenna Evans, global sustainability manager at Ben and Jerry's. We're going to talk about her sustainability work and the past, present, and future of sustainability at Ben and Jerry's. So welcome to the supercharge series, Jenna. Would you take a minute to introduce yourself?

to talk about her sustainability work and the past present and future of sustainability at Ben and Jerry so welcome to the supercharge series Jenna would you take a minute to introduce yourself sure um yeah I'm someone who's had a my

Sure. Yeah, I'm someone who's had my entire career in sustainability. I happen to be completely in the dairy industry with previous roles at Stonyfield and Danone, and now with Ben and Jerry's here. I've been with Ben and Jerry's for about the past six years, and I work a lot on our climate strategy and also sustainable packaging here.

um and I work a lot on our climate strategy and also sustainable packaging here that's great that's a lot of exciting stuff and you know Ben and Jerry's we know has a long history of being an environmentally minded company

That's great. That's a lot of exciting stuff. And you know, Ben and Jerry's, we know, has a long history of being an environmentally minded company and a sustainability leader and advocate. You know, in the time that you've been there, six years, how has Ben and Jerry's—well, overall, how has Ben and Jerry's approach to sustainability evolved over time, and especially since you've been there?

you've been there yeah I would say like from a like a historic perspective it's it's it's always been sort of on an upward trajectory and I feel like the the work that we've done done has gotten deeper and uh more meaningful as time has gone

Yeah, I would say from a historic perspective, it's always been sort of on an upward trajectory, and I feel like the work that we've done has gotten deeper and more meaningful as time has gone on. I'm very lucky in this role to be following in the footsteps of other great leaders that were here before me at Ben and Jerry's, and they really paved a path for me to be successful. So when I came into this role, I didn't have to fight with leadership to align with goals. I didn't have to fight for a budget. Everyone was already on board thanks to my predecessor, which is an amazing gift to have as somebody in sustainability. But yeah, since I've been in this role, I've sort of evolved it into a deeper climate strategy and tried to market that within the company.

I didn't have to fight with leadership to align with goals I didn't have to fight for a budget everyone was already on board thanks to my predecessor which is an amazing gift to have as somebody in sustainability um but yeah since I've

When I had joined, Ben and Jerry's had just submitted their climate targets to Science Based Targets, but the focus was really on sourcing, especially within our Caring Dairy program. So I've expanded it quite a bit to look broadly at the global view. We're working on new science-based targets as well that include the flag emissions or the forestry, land use, and agriculture emissions. Then I've also done a lot of work collaborating with different departments like research and development, manufacturing, and marketing to make sure that as everybody's developing new products, they are taking sustainability into account with everything that they do.

science based targets um but the the focus was really on sourcing especially within our caring Dairy program and so I've expanded it um quite a bit to look broadly at uh the global view um we're working on new science-based targets um

That's great. Well, that takes a lot of alignment building and work, which is probably one of the challenges in your job. What are some of the biggest challenges that you're facing in advancing these goals?

that as everybody's developing new products that they are taking sustainability into account with everything that they do that's great well that takes a lot of um alignment building and work which is probably one of the challenges in in in

Yeah, I think you hit the nail on the head there, Lisa. Working with leadership and making sure they're aligned. I would say particularly in Ben and Jerry's circumstance, where we are a wholly owned subsidiary with a parent company, it can be challenging to work with leadership levels at a parent company that doesn't share the same vision. Large companies often come with lots of process and red tape, and some of my biggest projects have taken over a year to gain approval, get off the ground, and there are other big projects that I know could be really impactful that are still on the shelf, unfortunately, due to that red tape.

and jer's Circumstance where we are a holy owned subsidiary with a parent company um it can be challenging to work with leadership levels um at a parent company that doesn't share the same vision large companies often come with

Yeah, well, it's a long haul in the space sometimes. But I have to ask you, speaking of hauling, being in fleet management, I want to ask you a couple questions around transportation. I believe that at Ben and Jerry's you have some electric vehicles in use at some of your facilities. I was wondering if you could tell me about them.

unfortunately due to that red tape yeah well it's it's a long haul in in in the space sometimes and um but I have to ask you speaking of hauling um being in Fleet Management I I want to ask you a couple questions around

Sure. Yeah, we don't have a fleet per se, but at our manufacturing facilities here in Vermont, we do have some yard trucks that we converted into electric vehicles last year, which was really exciting for us because the yard trucks are really big workhorses out in the yard. They're always hauling around different trailers with ice cream on them, and they were running quite often. So now, by electrifying them, we've eliminated a lot of diesel use and improved the local air quality as well around the factories.

manufacturing facilities here in Vermont we do have some yard trucks that we converted into electric vehicles last year um which was really exciting for us because the yard trucks are really big workhorses out in the yard they're always hauling around different trailers

Then in addition, we also have a lot of catering vehicles and marketing trucks coming out of our central headquarters, and we have one marketing vehicle, a Tesla, that's actually been converted with an ice cream freezer in the back, which is really cool. But within the next six months or so, we're planning to convert about half of our catering vehicles into electric. Can't tell you which ones—top secret—but we're really excited for that to come.

lot of catering vehicles and marketing trucks um coming out of our Central headquarters and we have one marketing vehicle a Tesla that's actually been converted with a ice cream freezer in the back which is really cool but within

Oh, that's great. That's great. Well, let us know if we can help you with that. But I'm also thinking about the long-haul trucking that you do, and I know that there can be a big impact from emissions of heavy-duty trucks on the road transporting refrigerated product and ingredients. How have you been able to address that, or what does the future of that look like for Ben and Jerry's?

know if we can help you with that but um I'm also thinking about the Long Haul Trucking that you do and that um I know that there can be a big impact from emissions of heavy duty trucks on the

Yeah, so I don't personally work on the transportation parts very much. There's a team that sort of coordinates all of the North American logistics, but in their roles, I know that they haven't started wholeheartedly on electrification quite yet. They've been doing a lot of efficiency work on reducing the mileage and changing modalities and things like that. But I think within the plans, we definitely foresee electrification as a priority. But I know that they're waiting a lot on what's going to happen from a governmental support perspective, both here in North America as well as Europe.

coordinates all of the North American Logistics but in their roles I know that they haven't started wholeheartedly on electrification quite yet they've been doing a lot of um efficiency work on like reducing the mileage and changing modalities and things like that um but I

I think the thing they're most excited about right now, as regulation stands, is sort of the last mile delivery. So we have a big section of our business called Ice Cream Now that is for people that want to watch their movie and get ice cream right now. So last mile delivery for things like that, electrification is really huge and highly available. But for some of our bigger transportation and logistics needs, we don't really feel in control of the recharging structure and things like that that are going to make it possible for big businesses to change over. But we're excited for it.

they're most excited about right now like as regulation stands is sort of the last mile delivery um so we have like a a big section of our of our business called ice cream now that like is you know for

Yeah, certainly those heavy-duty trucks are kind of the furthest out in terms of electrification, and as you mentioned, the charging structure is really challenging. So a lot to come in that space. We'll continue to be working on that and looking forward to seeing what you can do in that area too.

and Logistics needs um you know we're not we don't really feel in control of um you know the recharging structure and things like that that are going to make it possible for big businesses to change over um but we're excited for it yeah

So broadly speaking, not specifically about transportation, but what kind of emerging technologies or practices do you see on the horizon that could be game changers in addressing the impacts that you're trying to improve?

um looking forward to seeing what you can do in that area too um so broadly speaking not specifically about Transportation but um what kind of emerging Technologies or practices do you do you see on the horizon that could be game changers in

One of the things that I'm really excited about is within Ben and Jerry's footprint, a huge part of that comes from dairy farming, in the cows themselves. There's been a lot of development over the last few years about feed additives that can help modify how the cows' rumen is digesting their feed and reduce the methane that comes from cows as they digest their food. I think that will be a huge game changer. It's still early days, I would say, but we're really excited for that.

a lot of development over the last few years about feed additives that can help modify how the cow's room is digesting their feed and reduce the methane that comes from cows as they digest their food that's I think that will be a huge

We've also at Ben and Jerry's developed a comprehensive program to help not only look at how cows are ruminating but everything on a dairy farm, from how things are cropped and manure management and so forth, to help reduce the impacts of dairy farming itself.

dairy farm from how things are cropped and maner management and so forth to help reduce the impacts of dairy farming itself um the other thing I guess I would say is on the manufacturing side there's um I don't think it's actually

The other thing I guess I would say is on the manufacturing side, there's—I don't think it's actuall—

sharing those thoughts um I'm curious about consumers I mean you have such a a loving relationship with your consumers and their their loyal to loyalty to your brand I mean how are consumer expectations influencing your work and and more maybe even more broadly

consumer's impact on the food industry and expectations for sustainability yeah so I guess when I think about it personally and I was talking with our consumer insights people about this question um I feel like my work specifically is actually well beyond

what consumers are asking businesses for what they want to know about and what they even are willing to try to understand um which is exciting because that means that we're you know on the Forefront of of what should be done and

we're doing it because we know what's right not because consumers are asking us to do it um we do know like from our consumer insights research that a as of now at least when it comes to ice cream

consumers aren't really willing to pay more but they are expecting us to do more um so that's like a really tricky place to be from a food perspective um because you know margins are not incredibly high on food products

um and we know also that consumers aren't using sustainability um as a primary decision Factor when it comes to Foods they care much more about what brand it is what flavor it is and things like that um so that makes it

tricky um for Ben andury specifically our consumer base is largely genz and Millennials um and so that's interesting because we know that sustainability and environmental issues track um they're much more popular in that age uh bracket and so it's becoming more of a

non-negotiable to be doing the right thing so I think you know we're right in step with what's going to be expected of us in the future as well great well um you know one of the things I was wondering about is in terms

of a trend in corporate sustainability um seems like there's more and more demand about reporting and you know this touches on different companies depending on your P if you're public or private and and how you're positioned in the

marketplace um but you know I think that we'll agree that measuring impacts and being transparent is important but it's also um when reporting gets really honorous a lot of time spent on tracking and reporting that can distract your

resources from actually doing the work and implementing change and um so I'm wondering what you're seeing in that space and and how do you balance those needs at Ben jeries yeah I feel like especially in the time that I've had here I've been in

jer's the last 5 years or so there's been more and more both regulatory change and then just sort of peer pressure from other like-minded companies about reporting on all different topics um in in different you know geographies as well there's

different rulings here in North America versus in Europe um so it's becoming quite a alphabet soup of uh you know different organizations that you need to report to my role specifically is largely um slightly aside from that being part

of a of a you know a parent organization that does take on a lot of the public disclosures and things like that um but Ben and Jerry's also does uh independent reporting and what you said is absolutely true that the reporting can

can be very manual um there's not a lot of compilation of data and so it does take resources away from taking real action to report on the action that was done in the previous year um so I I

don't know if I have an answer it's very difficult to manage it's a real challenge um that we deal with every day like I said at the beginning that I am super lucky that I have a budget and so

some of that work is outsourced where it makes sense to um but it also sucks my time and it sucks I know different resources within my team's time as well it is really a big challenge yeah all right well um I'm wondering

overall of all the things AB Ben and Jerry's has done in terms of sustainability what are you what are you most proud of um so I think a couple projects come to mind I would say sort of like the

easy lift that I'm really proud of is that within the first year of working with our scoop shops we were able to get on a path to eliminate plastic straws and spoons globally which is really exciting since they had

been using them for years and years and so now we've transitioned away from them completely excuse me um another one is around we are putting in an anerobic digestor next to our Factory up here in Vermont it's a project that I had worked

on or I have been working on because it's still ongoing it's supposed to launch next week actually but I've been working on on it for I think 5 and 1 half years um it's been quite a slog and

I would say this is I think I like to talk about this project especially um with younger people because this project was a complete flop the first time I pitched it um so in 2019 was the first time I pitched this to leadership and

this was like Global Leadership and I was sure it was going to go through had everything buttoned up and then it like the 11th Hour it was just completely smacked down completely declined it was over they just closed the book on it and

so that was very humbling experience I thought I was so prepared and then I had to regroup starting with like a postmortem of what happened what went wrong how did this get killed after all this work cuz at that point I had been

working on it for a year and a half to get ready to present so I spent the next 15 months regrouping to present again because I knew this was the right thing to do and during that time Co started

and I had had a newborn and so this like all culminated into one night in June 2 in the morning cuz I was presenting to leaders in Europe I had to present at two in the morning on why this project

should go through and they finally approved it and so I feel like that was like a career highlight for me to have persevered after being you know given no as the answer and just you know with all the things that were happening

personally and professionally during that time it was like so exciting to see something happen that was um you know it's was for the best for the company it's best for the environment and it's actually going to be starting to operate

next week so it's actually kind of cool to talk about it right now because it's so close to being finished but it's been such a long project so I'm really proud of that one wow congratulations that's that's a great story and um that is cool

that it's as soon soon as next week and so that digestor is going to be tells just a little bit about the role of what what it's going to be oh yeah yeah I know forget people don't know what

digestors are um I know you do of course but for the audience here um an anob digestor is acts a lot like a stomach and it will digest food waste and so this particular digestor is going to be

taking um ice cream waste from our largest U manufacturing facility in Vermont it's also going to be taking food waste from other manufacturers um in the Vermont area whether like um beverages or food scraps and things like that and so it takes in the food waste

digests it in this big tank and during that process the bacteria that are digesting the food put off methane which is then used as a biog gas to create renewable electricity and that electricity is going back to the state

of Vermont um and we're looking at potentially using that waste heat in our Factory as well to try to eliminate natural gas usage so it's really it's quite a cool little ecosystem of um you know using energy and creating renewable

energy and using waste so it's very exciting project so you have to keep your eyes peeled for the the press release oh yeah that's great so you're gonna be flavor named after you could always help marketing doesn't like it when I talk about food

waste and bacteria and gas yeah well I get jazzed up by that as you know so I'm excited for you and um thank you for your persistence on that and sharing that story with us and and as a consumer you know thank you for for

all you do and the great ice cream that you bring forward and the eliminating plastic spoons and straws from the scoop shops um those are all great wins so thank you for doing all that and sharing that with us today thank you it was

really nice to chat with you yeah great to chat with you too and um and good luck I