Ice cream might be the ultimate guilty pleasure, but Ben & Jerry's fans don't have to feel an ounce of guilt about the company's sustainability efforts.
Sustainability Magazine awarded the ice cream giant 21st place in their Top 250 World's Most Sustainable Companies 2025 for its commitment to reducing its climate impact.
Given the company's known advocacy for social justice, it is refreshing that it is bringing the same energy to addressing its pollution. That comes through in direct and transparent steps to cut its pollution by 80% by 2050.
Unsurprisingly, the elephant — erm, cow — in the room for any ice cream company and its carbon footprint is making dairy production less polluting. Right now, it makes up 53% of the pollution Ben & Jerry's creates.
Ben & Jerry's is addressing that from a variety of angles, as Sustainability Magazine notes. One is changing its dairy cows' feed to homegrown, circular, more grass-heavy, and deforestation-free feed in the hopes of reducing its methane pollution and resource usage.
Another approach is tapping into methane digesters on farms to generate renewable energy from animal waste. The company is also looking at better ways to use manure on the land and applying regenerative agriculture practices.
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Producing non-dairy versions of its ice cream and cookie dough is another way the company is taking on its dairy use.
One area in which the company has already made huge strides is renewable energy use. Manufacturing and retail operations account for less than 6% of the Ben & Jerry's carbon footprint, and that number should fall as the company targets 100% renewable energy operations.
Packaging is another area for improvement. The company is looking for alternatives to plastic pint tubs that are instead compostable, not reliant on dirty energy, and free of deforestation.
It is refreshing to see a big company unafraid to share the steps it's taking.
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The company is also calling upon sustainability-minded companies and individuals to hold elected leaders to account to tackle climate challenges.
The Ben & Jerry's website writes: "If it's melted, it's ruined. It's true for ice cream, and it's true for the planet … We need to collectively call on our elected leaders to support a rapid transition to a clean-energy economy. We have all the tools we need — we just need the will to do it."
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