Fewer bakers establish sustainability targets

The 2026 State of the Baking Industry: Sustainability and the Future of Baking study, conducted by Cypress Research, reveals that despite some engagement retraction in sustainability initiatives, the majority of bakers and supplier companies still prioritize sustainability as a part of their business practices. Many of these companies are shifting their focus to sustainability initiatives that also support their business goals, such as improved efficiency and reduced costs. However, the 2026 study also reveals a trend of fewer companies setting measurable targets for their sustainability initiatives compared to 2023 levels. 

On the environmental side, significantly fewer ingredient manufacturers reported formal targets for programming in waste reduction, materials recycling, energy reduction, sustainable packaging, renewable energy use and regenerative agriculture. Far fewer bakers reported established key performance indicators (KPIs) for reducing deforestation-based farming practices and humane farming. Significantly fewer equipment manufacturers reported measuring energy reduction or water reduction programs. The study findings themselves do not indicate a reason behind this decline. 

“Environmentally, having targets in place is a low-hanging fruit, so I’m curious about the rationale for not seeing higher percentages here,” said Marjorie Hellmer, president of Cypress Research. 

Even without measuring the between-year differences, most of the initiatives included in the 2026 study had less than half of baker and supplier survey respondents reporting that their companies with measurable/formal targets. Waste reduction (74%), materials recycling (62%) and energy reduction (56%) were the only exceptions, and only on the baker side. 

2026 targets were much more likely to be set for social and governance initiatives such as employee safety, wages, wellness, financial performance reporting and monitoring company performance. 

Many of these initiatives saw more than half of respondents reporting that their companies had targets in place, and that share had grown since 2023.