When looking at the Baking & Snack 2025 Capital Spending study, sponsored by BEMA, I was shocked to see that sustainability was not a priority when bakers were asked about sustainability-driven investments. Only 19% of survey respondents said that the sustainable elements of the technology were the top motivation. Instead, production efficiency was the top goal with 33% of bakers. Just more than half of respondents said sustainability was not an important investment goal. 

Even in 2023, when Baking & Snack partnered with the American Bakers Association for the State of the Baking Industry: Sustainability Commitment in US Wholesale Baking study, conducted by Cypress Research, environmental responsibility policies fell below typical business priorities in importance. Improving operations, increased market share, a highly skilled workforce and other priorities were all more important than environmental initiatives. 

These facts along with rumblings that retailers may be backing off their sustainability goals make it seem like sustainability is falling out of favor. But I’d like to consider another data point: Even though environmental initiatives fell behind other business priorities, 78% of bakers responding to the 2023 survey said environmental policies were important to their business’s success over the next five years. I doubt that number has shifted much in the past two years, for a few reasons. 

First, consumers aren’t backing off. Rebecca Marquez, director of custom research for PMMI Media Group, said in our interview that we may see some slowdown in sustainability initiatives from consumer-packaged goods companies, but it’s not going away. What we will see is more activity in those efforts that are consumer-driven. 

“I don’t think it’s going to go away because there are people in these organizations who really believe in these initiatives and the American public believes in it,” she said.

Secondly, sustainability is efficiency. Operational efficiency and sustainability initiatives are not mutually exclusive. If operations are more efficient, then they are also more sustainable because a company is saving money on energy, waste and water. And that’s good for business and the environment. As more baking companies realize this, more of them are making sustainable investments. Efficiency and product quality still come first, but sustainability is a value-add. I believe this is what we’re seeing at play in the results from our 2025 Capital Spending and 2023 Sustainability studies. It’s not that baking companies don’t value these initiatives; they are another variable in the equation for efficiency.