In 2009, Forum for the Future used global scenarios to help PepsiCo identify the major sustainability risks and opportunities that it will face in 2030 and what it needs to do now to ensure it is successful in decades to come.

The project highlighted that the companies that will prosper will be those that have prepared for future challenges - like water scarcity, climate change and obesity – and, critically, those that are actively helping to overcome these challenges now.

One outcome of the Scenarios and Strategy work is that PepsiCo is building a team to focus on sustainable agriculture, so it can mitigate the risks that climate and water crises pose to its supply chains, now and in the future. The project work has also contributed to the development of new strategies for the business on the environment and health and wellness.

Indra Nooyi, Chairman and CEO, PepsiCo said:

“PepsiCo's commitment to sustainability is about an idea of the company which focuses on the long-term, as our Scenarios 2030 project has shown us.  We cannot contribute properly to finding an end to the climate crisis until we bring environmental and social governance into our long-term business strategies/decisions. It’s not all about the risks, but also about the opportunities.”

The scenarios were developed specially for PepsiCo and were based on extensive desk research, a series of workshops and over 100 interviews on possible future environment and health trends. The interviewees ranged from senior executives at PepsiCo, including Chairman and CEO Indra Nooyi, to external experts like Gro Harlem Brundtland, the former Prime Minister of Norway and ex-Director General of the World Health Organisation. We also held a number of implications workshops in the US, India, China, Latin America and Europe.

This work is seen as a critical piece of strategic thinking for the business.  Robert Schasel, Director of Energy & Resource Conservation at PepsiCo, who commissioned the work said: “I can't express strongly enough my sincere appreciation and gratitude for the work that the Forum team has done on this project. The incredible amount that we have achieved in such a short time is truly amazing.  The workshops were all very professionally run and highly engaging.

We've created a snowball within the organisation and we've reached globally like no other project I've seen.  I am absolutely overjoyed at the results we've achieved to date, and I'm very much looking forward to the next steps.”

Derek Yach, Senior Vice President, Global Health Policy, PepsiCo said:

“Issues like climate change, hunger and obesity and changing agricultural supply chains all have a strategic impact on our business.  The Scenarios and Strategy 2030, with Forum For The Future was a professional and inspiring process that enable us to identify risks and opportunities that will impact the core business today and in the future.  As a result PepsiCo will be better prepared and stronger as a company.”

For more information about the project, please contact Dan Crossley