Dole Puts Interdependence between People, Planet and Prosperity at Heart of Sustainability Promises

Dole International has released The Dole Promises to address global food insecurity and sustainability while ensuring people, the planet and prosperity can thrive together for today’s and tomorrow’s generations. The Singapore-headquartered company includes the Worldwide Packaged Division and the Fresh Business Division for Asia.

The promise, aims to increase access to sustainable nutrition, decrease food waste, plastics in packaging and carbon emissions and grow value for the company’s stakeholders, including farmers and shareholders.

“Our promise recognises that you cannot have prosperity at the welfare of the planet or the people. Each are interdependent and there can be no playing one off against the other, as we have seen in the past”, said Rupen Desai, global chief marketing officer for Dole Packaged Foods.

To argue its case for change, Dole has launched 'Dear Leaders of the World', a film in which a young girl asks thoughtful questions to today’s leaders, including: 'Why do we keep using plastic? Why do we add sugar to the food we eat? Why can’t we feed more hungry people?'

“From a child’s perspective – the solution is really simple, and so should it be, for all of us,” added Desai. “With the promises, we believe that when we take better care of the planet, everyone and everything gets better, because ultimately people, planet and prosperity are interdependent and interconnected."

The pandemic is creating new cracks in society, but it has also held a magnifying mirror up to the existing cracks, including inequitable access to nutrition, the epidemics of starvation and obesity and the constant waste of food and resource. “All of us, as leaders are responsible to our future generations for our actions today, because if we fail to address the current problems, we are compounding them and handing the next generation a world that is not fit to live in. If there is one good thing to come from the pandemic, we now know we cannot go back to ‘business as usual’. It is time for a change and accountability, we need people, planet and prosperity to work together and not at the cost of one another,” said Desai.

“We are also aware that we may not have all the answers to fulfil the promises we are making, but we are choosing progress over perfection, knowing that if we do not act now, we are leaving it too late. We call on others like us, who can see the risks and the solutions, to join us and help shape a different world", added Desai.

The Dole Promise includes six key ambitions, including: increase access to sustainable nutrition for 1 billion people by 2025, zero processed sugar in all Dole products by 2025, move toward zero fruit loss from Dole farms to markets by 2025, move toward zero fossil-based plastic packaging by 2025, net zero carbon emissions in Dole operations by 2030 and increasing the value of Dole’s business by 50% by 2025 to create shared value across the value chain, while continuing to positive impact all farmers, communities and people working for Dole.

In an effort to continue viewing the world’s problems and its solutions through the lens of the next generation, Dole will be partnering with youth activists this fall who will share their perspective on what we can all be doing at home to be an advocate for people and the planet. They will be looking to valuable insights from business peers and key opinion leaders in addition to the important future leaders of the world.

Dole also announced the Sunshine for All TM Investment Fund to support additional strategic partnerships and strategic investments in these areas around the world. The US $2million annual fund will work with innovators, start-ups and progressive partners to help deliver on the Dole Promise in key areas such as nutrition products, materiality, advisory and implementation of crucial practices to help achieve the ambitions that have been set.

The new film was created in partnership with L&C NYC, founded by award-winning creative duo Gian Carlo Lanfranco and Rolando Cordova. “Dole’s promises for a better future are so strong and relevant in our current times, that we found the simplest way to get the message across from the perspective of our children, who have been constantly let down by our inaction,” said Lanfranco of L&C NYC.

While L&C NYC worked on the film, the integrated campaign included other key Los Angeles-based partner agencies: Campbell Ewald, Spark Foundry and Golin. To see the full details of the Dole Promise, click here.