PepsiCo — Ethics Grade C-

PepsiCo receives an overall ethics grade of C- (48/100) on CancelCo's corporate accountability database. Sector: Consumer Goods. Market cap: Large Cap.

Category scores

• labor: 40
• privacy: 85
• consumer: 50
• environment: 35
• humanRights: 45

Documented incidents (3)

• Deforestation and Labor Abuse (high, 2020) — PepsiCo has been criticized for its palm oil supply chain links to illegal deforestation in Indonesia and the exploitation of workers. Critics argue the company's 'no deforestation' policies are weakly enforced.
• Buffalo River Plastic Pollution (medium, 2023) — New York State sued PepsiCo for polluting the Buffalo River with single-use plastics and for misleading the public about the effectiveness of its recycling and plastic reduction goals.
• Extreme Overtime and 'Suicide Shifts' (high, 2021) — Workers at the Topeka Frito-Lay factory went on strike to protest forced 84-hour work weeks and 'suicide shifts' involving back-to-back 12-hour shifts with only an 8-hour break in between.

Documented good deeds

• Regenerative Agriculture Initiative — Aimed at spreading regenerative farming practices across 7 million acres of its agricultural footprint to improve soil health and carbon sequestration.

Ethical alternatives

• Dr. Bronner's (Food Line) — Committed to fair trade and regenerative organic sourcing for all food and soap ingredients.