Over 800 million people worldwide are undernourished, while one-third of all food produced for human consumption (~1 B tons) is lost or wasted between the farm and table each year. Retail food chains such as Papa John’s are doing little to recognize or address the problem, yet cost savings are enormous to the company and a boon for communities once waste is identified, measured and cut.

Papa John’s International operates in all 50 states and 39 countries, but lacks basic sustainability reporting and does not acknowledge that food waste is a major problem within the company. Our goal is to encourage Papa John’s to develop processes to better measure, report and combat food waste and address global hunger, including:

• Implement and report on systems to identify the sources of and measure food waste,
• Improve operational  practices to reduce waste, and
• Develop waste reduction programs, repurpose ingredients, and develop local relationships for food donation.

CBIS reached out to Papa John’s twice at the end of 2016, to discuss the issue and press the company for better reporting. We are drafting a letter now with the improvements we’d like to see in management practice and reporting for 2017, and have been partnering with key food waste advocates on strategy.

CBIS began its engagement with Gilead Sciences on the issue of access to health for the world’s poor in 2016. CBIS has already met with the access to Medicine Foundation to discuss ways Gilead and the pharmaceutical industry can help the world’s poorest people access the medicine they need. Pharmaceutical companies have an important role to play by responding with concrete, effective action to combat diseases that disproportionately affect the poor and vulnerable. Expanding the supply of life-saving medications can help meet an urgent public health need in low-income countries. Gilead produces and has improved access to medications in developing countries for HIV, hepatitis, and disease caused by parasites. CBIS will work with Gilead to ensure the company is evaluating reduced pricing options to expand coverage for patients, coordinating and supporting education for medical and clinical workers, and expanding innovative patent agreements to hepatitis therapies.

In the first quarter of 2017, CBIS and other shareholders had a call in April to discuss Gilead’s new focus:

• Market expansion: To tackle the Hepatitis C crisis, Gilead will build new manufacturing plants in China where 10 million people are infected. Gilead hopes to replace outdated medications with poor cure rates.
• Pilot projects: Gilead donated drugs to the government of Georgia, the country with the world’s third highest prevalence of hepatitis C. The goal is a 90% reduction in prevalence by 2020.
• Global frameworks: The company committed to meet the UN Sustainable Development Goal of ensuring healthy lives and well-being worldwide by 2030, a positive step.