WASHINGTON — On Oct. 9, the Meat Institute released its third annual continuous improvement report at the Protein PACT (people, animals, acclimate of tomorrow) Summit in Austin, Texas. The report details the progress on sustainability goals and gives an update on the tools and partnerships pushing the achievement of those goals throughout the supply chain.

The report considers data from the companies that sell the majority of meat in the United States. Eighty-three percent of the largest (more than 2,000 employees) Meat Institute-member companies submitted data and 77% of the Meat Institute’s full board members submitted data or sponsor the Protein Pact. Also, the Meat Institute's metrics and goals align closely with on-farm efforts in beef, pork, poultry and feed to drive supply chain-wide sustainability.

“The Meat Institute has invested considerable resources in benchmarking performance, identifying gaps, implementing concrete actions and demonstrating progress toward our Protein PACT vision,” said Julie Anna Potts, president and chief executive officer of the Meat Institute. “This year we are spotlighting tools and partnerships that support further achievement and catalyze supply chain collaboration to align sourcing and production practices with consumers’ values and expectations — like our initiative to enroll Meat Institute members in emissions measurement, disclosure and abatement training.”

A partnership between the Meat Institute and Suppliers Leading on Climate Transition (Supplier LOCT) makes it possible for Meat Institute members to enroll in emissions measurement, disclosure, and abatement training. The partnership and enrollments also build on last year’s release of a practical tool to help meat companies conduct emissions surveys, the first critical step in the path to setting science-based targets.

Currently, 26 Meat Institute members have publicly committed to and/or set targets through the Science Based Targets initiative with 40 member companies participating in Supplier LOCT training so far, a majority of which were supported by the Meat Institute’s partnership.

The Meat Institute’s full 2024 continuous improvement report is available here, and a summary infographic is available here.