SMITHFIELD, VA. – Smithfield Foods Inc., announced it will use new greenhouse gas reporting methods when it publishes its 2024 sustainability report early next year. Officials said the new framework reflects updates to Smithfield’s operational impact, data collection, and GHG calculations.  

Greenhouse Gas Protocol accounting rules mandate that companies must recalculate their baseline GHG footprint when they adopt changes in operational structures and GHG impact methodologies. Changes made since Smithfield established its previous baseline, in 2010, are no longer representative of its progress in achieving previously made goals. The company said recent changes that warranted a new framework included: separating European from North American operations; closing its processing plant in Vernon, Calif.; adding new manufacturing facilities in Ohio and Tennessee; and cutting back farm operations in Missouri, Utah, Arizona, California and the East Coast. Those changes reduced Smithfield’s hog production output by about 20%.

“Smithfield was the first major company in our industry to adopt and report a comprehensive sustainability program more than 20 years ago, and we’re proud of our continuing track record in environmental stewardship,” said Stewart Leeth, chief sustainability officer for Smithfield Foods. “This new framework will provide production-based metrics for our customers to better understand the environmental impact of the food they trust us to produce.”

Smithfield’s next sustainability report will reflect its enhanced data calculations to determine its GHG inventory by the Greenhouse Gas Protocol, the international GHG accounting standard. The focus will be on the company’s on-farm methane capture levels and GHG intensity.