Our journey to greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction targets
In 2020, Wendy’s completed our first GHG inventory, which measured our Scope 1 and 2 emissions of natural gas, propane, gasoline and electric power at all Company-operated restaurants as well as in fleet vehicles and in corporate offices in calendar year 2019. Looking forward, Wendy’s will benchmark, track and reduce our Scope 1, Scope 2 and Scope 3 GHG emissions and set a science-based target by the end of 20231.
✅ Benchmark and report our 2020 total Scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions to CDP
✅ Conduct a lifecycle assessment on Scope 3 including our Scope 3 supply chain emissions from agriculture and land use change
✅ Commit to the Science-Based Target Initiative and begin developing a target for Scopes 1, 2 and 3
✅ Report our total Scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions in our 2021 Corporate Responsibility Report
✅ Report the findings of our Scope 3 lifecycle assessment
Continue to report Scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions to CDP
Continue work on Science-Based Target initiative process
Report our total Scope 1, 2, and 3 GHG emissions and track our reduction progress
Validate our science-based target with Science-Based Target initiative and publicly disclose the target
Benchmarking Our Emissions
In our first GHG inventory, we measured our Scope 1 and 2 emissions of natural gas, propane, gasoline and electric power at all Company-operated restaurants as well as in fleet vehicles and in corporate offices in calendar year 2019.
In our second inventory covering calendar year 2020, we found these locations used approximately 734,000 gigajoules, of which approximately 63% was electricity from local grids. Overall GHG emissions were reduced by 6.3% from 2019 levels, with the bulk of this change occurring within Scope 2 emissions.
Using these findings, Wendy’s has outlined a roadmap to help us achieve more reductions and increased transparency for our emissions across our supply chain.
We also reported 2020 data to CDP Climate Change Disclosure, a leading disclosure practice for environmental reporting, for the first time in 2021. We are encouraged and proud to have received a B score on our first submission, and we plan to continue submitting in coming years.
In 2021, as part of our path to set science-based targets, we completed a third-party lifecycle assessment (LCA). Our evaluation found that, in 2020, Scope 3 sources accounted for approximately 99% of emissions attributable to Wendy’s, with the greatest areas of opportunity for reduction tied to purchased goods and services, such as the top 10 priority food categories and packaging, and our franchised operations. Because of the scale of our Scope 3 impacts, we expect that our science-based target will encompass at least two-thirds of our Scope 3 emissions as part of our overall reduction target, with a focus on the categories we identified as producing our largest GHG impacts.
Wendy's is proud of our current progress in setting a clear roadmap to benchmark, track and reduce our emissions. Like many of our priority impact areas, we are on a journey and these goals are built on years of progress in this space. Click here to see our Climate Journey and a timeline of our climate achievements to-date.
Keeping food fresh, cooking and serving it and creating a safe, comfortable environment for our customers and crew requires energy. As part of our sustainability mission, Wendy’s is working on multiple fronts to reexamine and reduce the ways our restaurants consume energy in their day-to-day operations.