New Delhi, Jun 8 (IANS): Moving ahead with its sustainability goals, McCain (India) increased the share of renewable energy in its overall energy consumption and in terms of food quality has lowered the sodium content in its products.

As per the '2020 Global Sustainability Report - Together, Towards Planet-Friendly Food', the company purchased electricity from wind turbines in 2020 and securing the environmental certificates to be able to claim 20 per cent renewable electricity in 2021.

It has also reduced sodium content by 13 per cent in its 'Veggie Nuggets' and 10 per cent in the product 'Smiles'.

The report also noted that preparations are underway to move from palm oil to alternative oils by 2025.

It also noted that 3 per cent improvement in carbon dioxide emission intensity (Scope 1 & 2) during 2017-20. However, there was 6 per cent increase in absolute CO2 emissions during 2017-20, with Covid impact on volume.

In another major achievement, the report showed 100 per cent recovery of B2C plastic materials from April 2020.

"Our corrugated packaging has 99.7 per cent recycled content, up from 98.2 per cent in 2019. 99.7 per cent FSC certified paper sourced materials," it said.

Speaking to IANS, Vikas Mittal, Managing Director - South Asia, ASEAN, South Korea, Taiwan at McCain Foods, said that the company is committed to sustainable operations in India and across the globe.

He also stressed that the company that also supports the farmers in sustainable agriculture in terms of skills, technology and infrastructure.

On the company's operations in India, he said that the company has plans to expand the existing capacity, which has been delayed due to the pandemic, but the plans are on. Mittal said that McCain remains committed to India.

Globally, as per the report, McCain has decreased its absolute carbon dioxide emission by 6 per cent since 2017 and use of renewable energy has increased to 4 per cent from 1 per cent in 2020.