Chipotle Mexican Grill announced Thursday that the company would begin tying executive compensation to larger corporate goals including diversity and sustainability. The goals, which are divided into three categories — people, food and animals, and the environment — include commitments to racial and gender pay equity, increasing the amount of local/organic/sustainably raised food by the end of 2021, and releasing data on their carbon footprint by the end of the year.
Chipotle said that 10% of executive officers’ incentive plans will be tied to their progress toward achieving these goals.
“We are passionate about inspiring real change in people, food, and the environment every day,” Laurie Schalow, chief corporate affairs and food safety officer said in a statement. “The new compensation plan ensures our leaders continue to set the right example for our more than 88,000 employees while fulfilling our mission to drive change and cultivate a better world.”
Here are the goals in more detail below:
- Food and Animals — Chipotle has set a goal of reaching 37 million pounds of local produce cultivated by the end of 2021, up from 30 million pounds each year, and has committed $5 million this year to “Help reinvigorate” the farming industry. The company also introduced a virtual farmers’ market to help their suppliers earn more revenue streams during these tough times. Overall, the goal is to support more sustainable small farms by increasing the amount of regeneratively grown/local produce they purchase.
- People — Chipotle is creating an acceleration program to help promote diverse faces and voices at both the store level and support center level. Calling it a “formalized advancement process,” the company says it aims to help uplift diverse employees.
- Environment — Chipotle is moving up its original goal of publishing its scope three carbon emissions from 2025 to the end of 2021, with the overall goal of increasing transparency around its environmental impact. Scope three carbon emissions include activities from assets indirectly owned or impacted by the organization, like supply chain partners.
Over the past year, both Starbucks and McDonald’s have announced new diversity commitments to be tied to executive and/or corporate compensation.
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