About

Latin American Operations

In Latin America, the company, through its subsidiary Dole Fresh Fruit International Ltd, operates in eight countries producing and sourcing fresh fruit products for export to markets in the United States and Europe. In Costa Rica, the company is a leading exporter of bananas and pineapples and has been distinguished as a pioneer in environmental management systems being the first agricultural operation in the world certified to the ISO 14001 standard and has recently engaged in a challenging effort to work toward carbon neutrality for its banana and pineapple products within the framework of the Republic of Costa Rica’s Climate Change Strategy.

Global Operations

Dole Food Company, Inc., with 2007 revenues of $6.9 billion, is the world's largest producer and marketer of high-quality fresh fruit, fresh vegetables and fresh-cut flowers. Dole markets a growing line of packaged foods and frozen fruit and is a produce industry leader in nutrition education and research. The DOLE® brand is synonymous with high quality standards and satisfaction. Dole has earned this reputation over the last 157 years thanks to its unwavering commitment to fulfill its customers’ needs and consumers’ expectations in the critical areas of quality assurance, food safety, traceability, environmental responsibility and social accountability. Dole operates in over 90 countries, sells over 200 different products, and has over 65,000 employees throughout the globe.

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Strategy

Background

Costa Rica is one of the main banana exporters to the United States and the European Union and the most important fresh pineapple exporter in the world. As these two products are the most important agricultural export products in the country and as the Dole Food Company is one of the largest distributors of fresh fruits and vegetables in the world, it is important to collaborate in the global effort to reduce greenhouse gases (GHGs). Agriculture is estimated to contribute to 14% of the worldwide GHG emissions, Dole through its Latin American subsidiary, Dole Fresh Fruit International Ltd, feels it can play a role in reducing the impact of production agriculture and realizing the potential of climate-friendly agricultural practices such as minimum tillage to contribute to carbon capture in soils. In addition, the company feels it can engage and work with its supply chain partners such as growers,
carriers, and retailers to participate in the mitigation and compensation of GHG emissions in the production, ocean shipping, and distribution of fresh fruit products.

In August 2007 and following several months of discussions with the Costa Rican Government’s Climate Change Strategy group, the company announced that Standard Fruit de Costa Rica, Dole’s operating subsidiary in Costa Rica, and Fondo Nacional de Financiamiento Forestal (FONAFIFO), the National Forestry Financing Fund and an entity of the Ministry of Environment and Energy of Costa Rica, signed a ground breaking agreement to work together on a project aimed at establishing a carbon
neutral supply chain for bananas and pineapples, from production in Costa Rica to the markets in North America and Europe. This project is in support of the Government of Costa Rica’s plans to strive to become the first climate neutral country in the world by the year 2021, the bicentennial of the second-oldest democracy in the Western Hemisphere.

For Earth Day, April 22, 2008, Dole and the Costa Rican Government reiterated the collaboration effort by announcing that Dole Standard Fruit Company de Costa Rica S.A., would purchase carbon offsets from the Costa Rican Government’s program in amounts equal to the carbon dioxide emissions generated by the inland transport of Dole-produced bananas and pineapples. This ground-breaking announcement marked the first time that a private company has committed to offset its emissions from
the transport of its finished products within Costa Rica. With the presence of the Minister of the Environment, Dr. Roberto Dobles, the Company also informed on important progress regarding mitigation practices including the use of railroad transportation of its bananas, the implementation of modern fertilizers to diminish the application of nitrogen leading to a significant reduction of GHG emissions, and the elimination of an industry practice that included crop residue burning with the consequent release of carbon into the environment.

General Strategy

Dole’s climate neutral strategy includes four key aspects: measurement of GHG emissions; mitigation programs through improvement of company practices; compensation programs for emissions that can not be minimized by improved technology or operations; and engagement with stakeholders and supply chain partners to work on climate change issues.

1. Measurement of green house gas emissions

What can not be measured, can not be controlled or improved upon. Dole Fresh Fruit International Ltd. is conducting an ongoing program to measure existing emissions of its subsidiary’s operations in Costa Rica ranging from agricultural production, packing, land transportation, ocean shipping, and packaging manufacturing. Measurement has been concluded for product transportation and is ongoing for other processes. In the near future, the company will look to externally certify its measurement
procedures, records, and results that have been designed to comply with international standards (ISO14064).

2. Mitigation programs

The Company has not waited to complete the measurement phase to identify and begin implementation of programs that can reduce green house gas emissions to the environment. Some ongoing programs that have a significant reduction potential include:

• Research and application of fertilizers that optimize nutrient delivery to banana plants while reducing nitrous oxide emissions
• Discussions with the government rail company to increase the use of this mode of transportation (Dole is currently the only fruit company using the rail road in Costa Rica)
• Ongoing program to modernize the company’s 13,000-unit container fleet with units that are 35% more energy efficient
• Operation of some of the largest container reefer vessels in the industry (1,000 container capacity) that serve to greatly minimize the carbon footprint per unit of product shipped from Costa Rica to the United States.
• Implementation of driver efficiency training programs for all company employees and agricultural machinery operators to reduce unnecessary fossil fuel consumption
• Elimination of desiccants (herbicides) and crop residue burning in pineapple production that should lead to greater carbon sequestration in soil

As part of the mitigation actions the Company has planned to undertake research into climate-friendly agricultural practices such as minimum tillage, carbon capture in tropical agricultural soils, use of biomass to produce energy, and investigation into alternative cultivation methods such as annual cropping and organic production that have the potential of reducing climate change impacts.

3. Offset programs

Though frequently criticized when used as the sole mechanism to respond to climate change issues, carbon offset programs have an important role to play if used within a holistic approach in a company’s climate change strategy. In Costa Rica, Dole has partnered with the Government’s forestry fund to purchase certificates that will offset the emissions produced by the land transportation of Dole-produced bananas and pineapples to the port of export. The communication of this offset agreement
seeks to motivate other players in the Costa Rican transportation industry, as well the company’s suppliers of fresh fruit, to take actions to protect the environment and reduce the country’s dependence on fossil fuels.

Other efforts to offset carbon emissions include an ongoing company-program to reforest and plant trees on company property and that of neighboring communities that will add to the nearly 2,500 hectares of forest areas currently maintained by the Company. This land area is approximately 25% of the land owned by Dole in the country; this is a similar proportion to that preserved by Costa Rica, well-known for its protection of national parks and reserves.

On June 5, 2008, the Company will celebrate World Environment Day by organizing a tree-planting event at the recently-established pineapple organic plantation. This activity will involve community members, neighboring growers, regional government officials, and company employees of all levels to plant 5,000 trees and motivate participants to reduce impacts on the environment and use trees as an effective way to combat climate change. The trees that are planted will not only offset the
emissions produced by the agricultural machinery operated at Dole’s organic and commercial pineapple plantation in the area, but will also serve as an opportunity for participants to sign-up and compensate for the emissions produced by their own vehicles.

Stakeholder engagement

Shortly after Costa Rica announced its climate neutral strategy in February 2007, Dole contacted both the country’s Forestry Fund and the National Climate Change group to seek ways in which the company could participate and be proactive within this ground-breaking country strategy. The Government is one of the many stakeholders that Dole has identified that are essential to work with to implement a climate neutral project involving many players from production to distribution of fresh
fruit products in the market. Since then, Dole has been conversing with stakeholders including well-known academic institutions (Earth University, Incae Business School), fresh fruit customers in Europe and the United States, growers, local carriers, the media, and of course and foremost Dole’s employees throughout the organization. In the near future, the Company will be hosting a stakeholder visit to gauge progress and obtain feedback regarding the company’s climate neutral project in Costa Rica that will include participants from U.S. think tanks, academia, NGOs, corporate employees, and the Costa Rican government. Dole believes that the vertically-integrated nature of the company’s operation provides a key opportunity to work together with our supply chain partners from source to market on climate change issues and is working on ways to attain this potential.

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