A message from our Sustainability Director

Being transparent depends upon sound data; during 2023 and 2024, we invested in a cloud-based solution that links to our operational systems and creates an auditable, secure repository for sustainability data. This means that now, farm-level consumption data is stored alongside its accompanying carbon footprint.

As supply chain corporate responsibility starts to become enshrined in law across many of our markets, we believe the transparency our systems enable will be key. Through this, we can demonstrate to our customers that we know and understand the risks within our operations and supply chain and that we have effective mitigation in place.

In this report, we aim to demonstrate that we have been – and continue to be – focused on the material issues that have greatest impact, but also issues toward which we can make meaningful positive change. These issues are food waste, Tropical Race 4 (TR4), and carbon emissions.

We’ve also continued our long-term reporting on topics such as wages, safe working conditions, grievance mechanisms, and the use of plant protection products.

Peter Stedman

Sustainability Director

“We are in an intense period in which our collective actions are having highly significant impacts on our planet’s agricultural systems and climate. We must carefully choose the changes that we make, and not seek to overly simplify processes that have taken generations to develop.”

Peter Stedman

Sustainability Director

A message from our President

Today, a state of stress seems to be the new norm in global supply chains. In our last sustainability report, I detailed my personal experience of the impact of two extreme weather events – hurricanes Eta and Iota, both caused by climate change – and their impact on my home country of Honduras. We are farmers at heart and the devastation of thousands of hectares of land was extremely upsetting for me personally and our entire team.

Two years later, the challenges are different, but the level of uncertainty remains high. Conflict is spreading to more areas of the world, and several key countries for banana production in Latin America have experienced social upheaval. Simultaneously, TR4, a soilborne fungus that Cavendish bananas are highly susceptible to, has spread to three confirmed countries in Latin America. TR4 is only detectible once it has been in the soil for 12 to 24 months, so it is highly likely the spread is greater than we currently know.

The challenges are all set against the backdrop of the race against climate change. We have ever-less time to make meaningful changes to our global production and consumption models if we are to keep global temperature increases within 1.5°C of preindustrial levels and avoid their worst impacts.

Carlos López Flores

President

Climate change and the imperative to fight it is creating real costs. In 2021, we reported that average rainfall across our operations fell by 16% between 2000 and 2020. This is leading to increased costs for irrigation, and the costs of establishing it in areas that were previously 100% rain fed. The investment needed to nurture soil health and biodiversity is also increasing as we seek to reduce carbon emissions from inorganic nitrogenous fertilizers. Alongside this is the trend that all agricultural operations face – agriculture is hard work and as real incomes in Latin America continue to rise, the costs of labor, due to fewer people wanting to work in the sector and general wage inflation, is having a significant impact on costs.

Throughout this report, we reflect on the strength of our business to mitigate some of these short-term challenges and the investments that we are making to help address the long-term ones. This includes the positive action we are taking to decarbonize our production, to preserve biodiversity, and to promote bananas as a part of a low-carbon, plant-centered diet.

Above all we will continue to prioritize the health and wellbeing of our people and communities. They are the heart of our business and their success is our success.

“If sustainable choices are only accessible to the few, then our efforts to tackle climate change will fail.”

Carlos López Flores

President

About this report

For 70 of the 150 years of our company, the Blue Stickers that are an icon of our brand have been the seal of high quality fruit, a celebration of fun, and a way to help tell our sustainability story. In this report, we’re going behind the iconic Chiquita Blue Sticker to share our goals, successes, challenges, and future ambitions – documenting our progress across the two years.

Since 2015, when Chiquita entered new ownership and underwent a transformation, the organization of our sustainability efforts has remained consistent. This moment drew a line under many of the practices that started with the United Fruit Company in 1899. Its long history was not always something to be proud of. We cannot change the past – only learn from it.

Chiquita’s new leadership, governance, and actions bear no resemblance to past times. We are focused on the future, taking care that our actions reflect the best we can do with the knowledge we have today.

Substantiating our best requires transparency. Recognizing this, in this report, we share our successes over the past two years, but we also share the work we still have to do. We have waste, we have accidents, we have industrial disputes, and we have shortages in supply. At the same time, we pay living wages to all our employees, invest millions of dollars in banana disease research that will aid food security in banana-growing regions, and donate millions of bananas each year to the charity Feeding America. On balance, we believe we create shared value for all our stakeholders while delivering healthy, affordable bananas to consumers all over the world. We’ve structured this report around our three key strategic pillars: The Farmer’s Code, Being a Good Neighbor, and For the Greater Good.

Where we claim something, we only do so with independent verification. If you would like to know more about anything within this report, please contact us at sustainability@chiquita.com.

If you are reading this report in print form, as long as you recycle it when you’re done, it took 450g of carbon to produce. This has been included in our 2024 carbon inventory. It is made from 90% recycled material, and all inks used are water-based and biodegradable. The report is fully recyclable through normal wastepaper streams.

Partnership with Feeding America

One of the ways we work to combat food waste and support our local communities is by partnering with organizations like Feeding America, the United States’ largest hunger-relief charity.

Each year, Chiquita donates around 5.5 million bananas to Feeding America, supporting people who need nutritious food.

“Feeding America^® is committed to an America where no one is hungry. We support tens of millions of people who experience food insecurity to get the food and resources they say they need to thrive as part of a nationwide network of food banks, statewide food bank associations, food pantries, and meal programs.

We also invest in innovative solutions to increase equitable access to nutritious food, advocate for legislation that improves food security, and work to address factors that impact food security, such as health, cost of living, and employment.

Since 2019, our partnership with Chiquita has resulted in the donation of 5,500 tons of bananas to the Feeding America network of food banks, providing fresh and nourishing food to people facing hunger. We are so grateful for Chiquita’s support in helping fight hunger year-round.”

Mike Piotrowski

Senior Director, Regional Supply Chain Team (Central)

An international effort through Yelloway

Yelloway is a strategic, long-term collaboration with our partners to conduct research into bananas that are resistant to both pathogenic diseases and environmental threats.

Established in the Netherlands in 2020 as a joint venture between Chiquita, KeyGene, MusaRadix, and collaborating with Wageningen University & Research, the organization focuses on TR4 and Black Sigatoka, another disease of banana plants.

Initially focusing on Black Sigatoka and TR4 – the most significant current and future inhibitors of efficient, sustainable banana production – Yelloway’s approach marries modern bioinformatics and classical plant breeding. It is an approach based on three core principles:

Genetic diversity: Yelloway has an in-house collection of more than 150 banana varieties.

Detailed understanding: The partnership brings together groups that have an understanding of plant biology and genetics, as well as the crop system as a whole.

Genetic tools: The team has developed, and properly uses, genetic tools that set this program apart from similar research projects.

In 2023, the partnership reached a major milestone: Yelloway One (YW1). YW1 is the first of a new generation of non-GMO, entirely classically bred banana varieties, and the first to combine TR4 and Black Sigatoka disease resistance. It has been the work of a team of scientists lead by Dr. Fernando García-Bastidas and, thanks to Yelloway’s innovative approach, development only took three years. Relying only on classical breeding would have taken many times longer.

Understanding our Scope 1 and 2 emissions

We recognize that, while our Scope 2* emissions have reduced since 2019, our Scope 1 emissions have increased. As discussed in this report, we are prioritizing researching and trialing efforts through to 2027 to reduce Scope 1 emissions from our farms, since direct control here means this is the area where we have the most opportunity for impact. See our 2021-2022 report for a breakdown of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in our value chain.

*Scope 2 emissions are location based. Location-based Scope 2 emissions are emissions calculated based on the average emissions intensity of a local power grid.

Direct Scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions (tCO₂e)