For nature’s health
At Dole plc we recognise our role as custodians of the environment in which we operate, our responsibility to measure, manage and minimise our consumption of precious natural resources, and our impact on the wider ecosystem. In rising to this challenge, we prioritise the conservation of our land, the adoption of stringent environmental protocols across all operations and the integration of best sustainable practices into our business model.
Climate action
Reducing emissions from operations is one of the most significant contributions Dole can make to address climate change and secure our long-term future. Our current supply chain will also adopt clean sources of energy to power our vessels and vehicles, our farming equipment, and our processing plants and packing operations as they become commercially available. Our farming research teams also continue to focus on a controlled decrease in the emissions produced from the application of synthetic fertilisation that sustains the required level of productivity.
Dole plc records 4% reduction in carbon footprint, but the work continues…
In 2021, the carbon footprint for Dole plc globally was measured. Details can be found in the table below. We are happy to report a 4% decrease in carbon emissions compared to our 2020 baseline* for Scope 1 and 2 (*calculated on a pro forma basis). This reduction is attributed to our investment in new and more efficient vessels to transport our produce from Latin America to the US Gulf Coast as well as our ongoing efforts to switch to renewable forms of energy within our operations. Dole has committed to set even more ambitious targets for 2030 to reduce emissions and align with Science Based Target initiative (SBTi) guidelines. We intend to submit our target to SBTi for review in 2023.
Improving Shipping Efficiency
A single Dole ship can carry up to 100 million bananas which makes shipping the most efficient transportation method per ton. Nonetheless, we continue to modernise our vessel fleet to help reduce our shipping emissions, and we’re excited to see how much further the adoption of new technology can propel us.
Our two newest vessels both delivered in 2021, Dole Maya and Dole Aztec, use the latest in sustainable technology, including hydrodynamic efficient hulls and best-in-class main and auxiliary engines. Along with the latest exhaust scrubbing technology resulting in 52% reduction of SOx emissions, the propulsion and power plant engines are all certified TIER III compliant — achieving nearly 66% reduction in NOx emissions per FEU (forty-foot equivalent unit) carried compared to the vessels they replaced in the same shipping service which were built in 1989-1991.
We have also renewed and upgraded our fleet of refrigerated containers to dramatically reduce energy usage, release of refrigerants, and greenhouse gas emissions to further decrease our environmental impact. Shipping is an essential element of Dole’s mission to provide nutritious produce to consumers around the globe, and continually improving shipping sustainability is critical to protecting the environment.
Wind in our sails
Dole’s Fresh Vegetables division recently installed two General Electric 2.8 Megawatt wind turbines at its salad processing plant in Soledad, California as part of the ongoing efforts to reduce hydrocarbon emissions, oil dependence and our environment impact. Both turbines are estimated to directly reduce CO2 emissions by 14,912 tons per year. Using the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Greenhouse Gas Equivalency Calculator it is roughly equivalent to offsetting the electricity use of 2,634 American Homes each year.
“Representing an important milestone in our sustainability journey, these turbines will have a substantial impact on our operations’ carbon footprint,” says Timothy Escamilla, President of Dole Fresh Vegetables. “They are projected to produce over 19 million kilowatt hours of clean electricity per year, which will result in a 70% offset of our overall energy consumption at this site.”
Generating domestically produced renewable energy and thereby reducing the company’s reliance on fossil-fuels is deeply aligned with The Dole Way framework.
Electrifying San Diego
In April 2022, we proudly expanded our ongoing electrification project in San Diego’s West Coast port operation. Funded in part via the Clean Off-Road Equipment Voucher Incentive Project (CORE) administered by the California Air Resources Board (CARB), this $1.5 million project helped provide Dole’s terminal operations with an additional five new electric utility rigs (UTRs) to the two existing UTRs already in use on site.
These new UTRs retire four diesel-powered UTRs resulting in a substantial emission reduction. Each new UTR will avoid 0.3194 tons NOx/year over the 10-year life for a total reduction of 3.194 tons NOx per UTR and a cumulative project emissions reduction of 12.776 tons NOx over 10 years. These seven electric UTRs represent 35% of Dole’s San Diego port transfer requirements and are a further step towards meeting the company’s goal of being 100% electric in the port by 2030.
“Dole is strongly committed to being a change agent in combating climate disruption, and adding electric vehicles to our operations is one area where we can make positive emissions impacts. Combining Dole funding with these CORE grants exemplifies that private business can take meaningful initiatives to pursue sustainability.” – Nelson Montoya, President of Dole Fresh Fruit North America
Dole goes solar
As part of our integrated approach to reducing our carbon footprint, Dole Ireland has installed a new energy system at our Belfast site in the United Kingdom. With a capacity of 120 kWp, the system will generate 20% of the site’s annual requirements, reducing grid reliance by 90,500 kWh and reducing CO2 emissions by 30,000 kt per year. Although this is the first of several proposed solar micro-generation projects across Dole UK & Dole Ireland, similar systems have previously been installed across Dole sites in Madrid, Valencia, Barcelona and Costa Rica.
Sustainable farming practices
Dole has, for decades, been innovating to push the boundaries of sustainable agriculture – to find ever more efficient and more environmentally sustainable ways to grow fruit and vegetables to feed the world. Today, Dole’s researchers and growers are scaling up past innovations to implement new techniques, varieties and practices that can increase yields, improve soil health and/or optimize the use of water, energy, conventional fertilizers, and crop protection products. Everything in nature is interconnected. As a result, a single agricultural practice turns out to have multiple environmental and commercial applications and benefits.
Water Stewardship
Fresh water is an essential resource for farmers. Overall, climate change affects water availability, and we need to carefully manage the resource to secure future growth. Our water stewardship activities are, therefore, a good barometer of how effectively we are managing our climate risks. At an operational level, Dole has been developing new ways to reduce water use on farms and at packing and processing facilities for many years and continues to make steady progress.
Sustainable Water Management
We are proud to be a member of the Alliance for Water Stewardship (AWS) as we invest in the responsible management of water. In total, 20 farms have been recognised for their sustainable water management practices across Colombia and Ecuador, including Dole-owned and Dole Independent producers. AWS certification is widely respected and includes a legal framework, promoting best practices around optimization, discharge and sanitation of water, and encouragement of collaboration with others that address needs and challenges within the watershed.
Biodiversity protection
Various NGOs and governmental organisations have reported an acceleration in biodiversity loss: an alarming sign for the wellbeing of our planet. Dole has, for some time now, collaborated with organisations such as the Rainforest Alliance and as a founding member of Biodiversity Partnership Mesoamerica to promote biodiversity and develop monitoring programs to assess the status of ecosystems around our farming operations. Dole maintains over 3,000 hectares (over 7,000 acres) of forest on its banana and pineapple farms. We are committed to continually elevate our current practices and incorporate a yet more structured approach to study and promote biodiversity in our food systems.
Pollinator well-“beeing”
At our banana farm Valle la Estrella in Costa Rica, bees are attracted to the refuge that banana stems provide and favour the habitat of the wooded areas around the farm. To keep farmworkers safe and give the bees undisturbed space, a local pollinator protection and rescue group has taught employees how to safely capture and relocate the swarms to the outskirts of the farm. Rich in biodiversity, this area is home to hundreds of beehives that inhabit and pass through the farms and serves as an indicator that bees feel safe within the fields and are not impacted by our agricultural practices.
