Who’s doing the work? OATLY

Highlighting corporations already working towards the SDGs

The 8 SDGs that Oatly is making progress toward.

Oatly, the Swedish sustainable superstar in plant based milk, has seemingly popped up out of nowhere in the last year. But, the reality is that Oatly’s scientists have been working on the backend developing the formula, perfecting the production, and gathering data to make their product and supply chain more sustainable for years. The company IPO’d this year in May at a valuation of $10 billion and their revenue nearly doubled to $420 million all while building their company in alignment with the UN’s SDGs. We’d like to highlight unique ways that they think about and implement the SDGs into their business model through transparency, research, social media, and shared responsibility.

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1. Transparency — If you’ve ever purchased Oatly, you’ve likely experienced their transparency first hand as it is woven into their branding strategy. Most notably, they include “climate footprint declarations’’ on every product. Furthermore, calculations and reporting are outsourced to a third party business, CarbonCloud, to ensure objectivity. In addition to carbon tracking, Oatly tracks and shares data concerning a number of key indicators including hiring demographics to ensure accountability in equitable hiring, even when the numbers are sub-optimal. In 2020, the company was made up of ~50% men, ~50% women, yet the board remains heavily male dominant. By sharing this information openly they are inviting public participation in accountability and therefore will have to prioritize open-minded recruitment practices and training.

Transparency to ensure accountability.

1. Research — Oatly is a “research-based food producing company” which means their focus is on more than just production, but rather all the ways that food production can be improved from the regenerative farming techniques (SDG 6), to improved logistics (SDG 12), to updating the policy that informs public health and safety laws (SDG 13). Each step of the process is an opportunity for collecting data to inform the best decision-making process possible.”
2. Their UNESCO research project, “Farmers seeking Farmers”, tracked farmers that were ready and willing to change their actions based on regenerative and sustainable principles. Their initial research partner, Adam, saw a 3x increase in food production as well as .5x decrease in carbon output (SDG 13). This hands-on case-study will be included in EU policy recommendations for regenerative and sustainable food production. In the US, Oatly works with nonprofits Sustainable Food Lab and Practical Farmers of Iowa to pilot a program determined to grow 450 acres of oats in the Midwest’s so-called “corn belt” to meet market demand (SDG 8 & 12). They’re not simply switching crops, but instead they are implementing a 3 year crop rotation of oats and clover, corn, and soy which will build healthy soil and help change the US agricultural market to a more “sustainable, diverse and profitable” one.
3. Use of Social Media — Another important strategy used by Oatly is their use of social media as a tool to increase education and awareness about sustainability and mobilize action. Most notably their recent “German petition” garnered 57,000 consumer signatures in support of making climate footprint declarations law (SDG 12 — Responsible Production and Consumption).

4. Shared Responsibility — Lastly, Oatly has a company structure and culture of shared responsibility that sets it apart from others we’ve studied. As a core value of the company, sustainability is at the forefront of each and every decision across the company and then tracked. This shift from sustainability as a department to sustainability as a leading principle is BIG and one to be replicated. 82 % of Oatly employees cited this as one of the main reasons for applying to the company, which reinforces the growing importance of sustainability and mission-driven companies not only to consumers but to associates as well.

“It increases awareness and makes the climate issue a shared responsibility, not something that stays within the sustainability team. And isn’t increased awareness and shared responsibility exactly what we need if we are going to turn this climate crisis around?”

As more and more companies align with the SDGs, sustainability, and mission-driven business, we need continued data-collection and transparency. Oatly’s focus on using research to enact broader progressive systemic change in the workplace and beyond is a great example for other companies.

At 17 Ways, we’re launching pilots with two publicly traded enterprise companies that are looking to buy from certified sustainable, mission-driven, and women/minority owned businesses. Get in early and start selling today!

More on Sustainability and Oatly:

• Methodology — Read this for inspiration and more detailed information concerning Oatly’s methodology.
• Meet Adam — Read more about Swedish dairy farmer turned oat.
• Oatly’s IPO — Read more on Oatly’s recent economic success here.