Our World: Environment & Society

For future generations

Icon Our World

Protecting our planet together.

What we do today goes beyond the moment. That is why we take responsibility: we joined the Science Based Targets initiative, make our packaging recyclable wherever possible, and implement numerous measures to keep food waste and wastewater to a minimum. At the same time, we strengthen responsible sourcing with standards and programs to identify and address social and environmental risks in our supply chains.


Olive tree Turkey

Olive tree at our plant in Turkey – we plant one tree per employee here on the plant premises.

Step by step, fewer emissions

We have joined the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), committing us to science-based, validated climate targets and continuous reporting in line with the criteria of this globally recognized network.

 


Science Based Targets initiative

The SBTi is a joint initiative of the global non-profit organizations Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), the UN Global Compact, the World Resources Institute (WRI) and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF). It was launched in 2015 to help companies set emissions reduction targets in line with climate science and the goals of the Paris Agreement to limit global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.


Our near-term climate goals are validated by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi). Some of the measures, that are supporting this:

Generating renewable energy ourselves: solar system on our production facility in South Africa.

Path to fossil-free production


Time to rethink: 54% of the energy we use comes from renewable sources (status: end of 2025). This is supported by numerous measures in our sites worldwide.

Less waste, less packaging

Our packaging should reliably protect products while also being designed so that materials are used as efficiently as possible. By the end of 2025, 87% of our packaging was designed to be recyclable (volume-weighted average; excluding France, Mexico, Canada, Turkey, Croatia, Ukraine, the USA, our subsidiaries in Africa, Asia and Australia, as well as traded goods due to data availability). 


Two employees testing packaging of a Dr. Oetker product

Our colleagues in packaging design are improving the recyclability of our products.

Leading by example.

As little packaging material as possible and as recyclable as possible. These are our core principles.

Significantly less plastic

We have reduced the thickness of the plastic film of our pizza packaging and thus use 14% less material. This means we save 310 tons of plastic per year. Plus: Our folding boxes are made of 70-80 % of recycled material - if the folding box and film are disposed of separately and correctly, both can be fully recycled.

Now also recyclable!

The popular four-chamber cups for our decor products are increasingly no longer made from polystyrene, i.e. PS, but from polypropylene, i.e. PP, and can therefore be recycled. At the same time, we have significantly reduced the weight of the packaging.

Desserts without an extra lid

Since 2022, we have been removing the snap-on lids from our Löffelglück cream pudding, Löffelglück semolina pudding, Löffelglück fruit jelly and our high protein pudding in 500g and 400g tubs. This means that we save at least 115 tons of plastic every year for the German market alone, which equates to around 40 truckloads.

For our refined products, such as crème fraîche, all 125g and 150g tubs will also no longer have snap-on lids from 2023.

Everything made of cardboard

The packaging for Dr. Oetker Germany's Happy Birthday candles is now made entirely of cardboard - and can be recycled via waste paper. This eliminates the need for the non-recyclable plastic viewing window and the polystyrene block in which the candles were previously inserted.

Fully recyclable

Dr. Oetker Professional in India has recently switched the packaging for Veg Mayonnaise For Coleslaw to fully recyclable mono-material. We estimate that this will enable us to avoid 30 tons of plastic waste per year.

Dr. Oetker Stories

In our magazine, we show what inspires us

To the magazine

Food does not belong in the trash.

To us, food is far more than just nutrition. It is made by passionate people using valuable resources and yet far too often ends up in the bin. At the same time, there are still far too many people with poor access to food. No wonder 68% of people worldwide* are concerned about how much food is wasted around the globe.


⁠In recent years, we have significantly reduced food waste in production: by 41% in our pizza plants (2019–2025, excluding new products) and by 27% in our ambient plants (2021–2025). 

Find out More about how We save food

More information on Sustainability: Dr. Oetker Sustainability Charter

Water management across our production network

Across our production sites, we work to manage water use carefully and to improve water reuse through a range of initiatives. At the same time, we share best practices and experiences across our global network to further develop our approach. In 2025, we withdrew a total of around 1,000,000 m³ of water in our production and discharged about 700,000 m³ of water.



Rain water collecting pits, to increase the groundwater levels in Kahrani, India

Measures taken in our plants:

Responsibility in our supply chain

Raw materials are at the heart of our products. Purchasing them can involve social and environmental risks that vary depending on the raw material and its origin. That is why we identify and assess such risks in our supply chains and address them, among other things with regard to deforestation as well as human rights and animal welfare.


Protecting forests and other ecosystems

Deforestation of forests for agricultural land is a global problem. Forests are not only carbon sinks and filters for our air; they are also crucial for preserving biodiversity and provide important habitats for people and animals. Currently, 93% of our procurement spend do not have a high deforestation risk according to the criteria of the Accountability Framework Initiative (AFI).


Improving social and ecological conditions

To address social and environmental risks in our supply chains, we rely on recognized standards for raw materials with increased risk and continuously work on their implementation. For selected raw materials such as cocoa, palm oil, hazelnuts, tuna and chicken, we have already made progress. In addition, since 2023 we have implemented the German Supply Chain Due Diligence Act and updated and published our Supplier Code of Conduct. 

  

You can find more about our framework and the requirements for our supply chains in the Dr. Oetker Sustainability Charter as well as in our Responsible Sourcing Policy

We are a member of the Sustainable Vanille Initiative (SVI) to help improve the sustainability and quality of vanilla production in the long term, especially in Madagascar, the largest vanilla-growing region.

 


For more animal welfare

We want to offer more vegetarian and vegan products, recipes and preparation instructions. At the same time, we are working to improve animal husbandry, catching, slaughtering and transportation for the products we source. For example, we already define higher standards for our chicken meat and eggs.

Since 2016, a portion of our sourced chicken has met the criteria of the European Chicken Commitment (ECC). This means slower rearing, improved air quality, more daylight, and more space for the animals. In 2022, we exclusively used chicken adhering to ECC criteria for Ristorante Pollo production at our facilities in Germany and Poland. Unfortunately, in 2023, we were only able to use conventional chicken meat due to supply issues. In 2024, 63% of our chicken meat met the ECC criteria at our European production sites; for Germany it was 86%. Until the end of 2025, we aim to exclusively be using this chicken on our pizzas.