Aurora Organic Dairy Publishes 2015 Corporate Citizenship Report, Progress Made toward Baseline Year Goals

August 17, 2015 | By Business Wire News

BOULDER, Colo.

Aurora Organic Dairy, a leading U.S. provider of high-quality retailer brand organic milk and butter, today announced it has issued its 2015 Corporate Citizenship Report. The report provides an update from the Company’s award-winning inaugural report, published in 2013, and details progress toward long-term corporate citizenship goals.

In 2014 Aurora Organic Dairy made strides toward the achievement of its five-year goals. These include: greenhouse gas emissions and energy use reductions per half gallon equivalent of milk; greater milk processing water efficiencies and water recycling; and further advancements in animal care and employee-related goal areas. Additionally, Aurora Organic Dairy’s CSR Steering Committee increased its commitment to goal areas that have proven more difficult to achieve.

“Our vision for a more sustainable future is to tread more lightly on the planet, treat our people and animals with respect, and give back to our local communities,” said Marc Peperzak, Founder and CEO of Aurora Organic Dairy. “As a vertically integrated producer and processor of organic milk, our primary data has enabled a unique approach to measuring our impacts and setting CSR goals. We conducted our first Life Cycle Assessment of a half gallon of milk in 2008, and now we are tracking our progress against goals that will improve our overall impact on animals, people and the planet. We are proud of our progress, and will continue our commitment to being a good corporate citizen.”

To ensure its Corporate Citizenship Report is consistent with leading standards for CSR reporting, Aurora Organic Dairy’s 2015 Corporate Citizenship Report (available here: www.aodmilk.com) was prepared ‘in accordance’ with the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) G4 Guidelines and Food Processing Sector Supplement. GRI is an international independent standards organization that helps businesses, governments and other organizations understand and communicate their impacts on various environmental and social issues. A full GRI appendix is available at the end of the report.

Aurora Organic Dairy’s inaugural Corporate Citizenship Report, published in 2013, was awarded “Best First Time Report” in the CR Reporting Awards (CRRA) 2015. “The Aurora Organic Dairy Corporate Citizenship Report is a first-rate report by any standard, and the fact it’s a first-time report is particularly impressive,” said CorporateRegister.com CEO Paul Scott. “The report framework is comprehensive and logical, covering environmental impacts such as energy, water, emissions and waste, but also extending into wider areas. There are industry-specific issues, such as animal welfare and farm management standards, and the entire report is both readable and informative. The company has made this document easy to digest with a good mix of text, data and graphics, and I learned a lot about the company and the US dairy industry.”

Based in the UK, CorporateRegister.com is the largest global online directory of corporate non-financial reporting, featuring more than 67,000 reports and adding a further 8,000 reports annually. The only independent, global annual awards in CSR reporting, the CRRA recognize the best in corporate responsibility reporting. More than 40,000 CorporateRegister.com online users vote online for the reports they feel are the best in each of nine categories. For more information on the CRRA, please visit www.corporateregister.com.

ABOUT AURORA ORGANIC DAIRY

Aurora Organic Dairy is the leading producer of store-brand organic milk and butter for U.S. retailers. Based in Boulder, Colorado, it operates a heifer farm and organic dairy farms in Colorado and Texas, as well as an organic dairy processing plant in Platteville, Colorado. Organic agriculture, animal care and sustainable production are the cornerstones of Aurora Organic Dairy’s business. Its processing facility and each of its farms are certified organic by USDA National Organic Program accredited certifiers and certified by Validus, a leading independent animal welfare auditor.

Aurora Organic Dairy is involved in overseeing organic standards from cow to carton. It monitors the entire product lifecycle, to ensure quality from its farms to its processing facility. For more information, visit www.aodmilk.com.