Impossible Foods Earns Top Score in Human Rights Campaign’s 2021 Corporate Equality Index
REDWOOD CITY, Calif.: Impossible Foods Inc. received a perfect score of 100% on the Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s 2021 Corporate Equality Index, the nation’s foremost benchmarking report on corporate equity and policy.
The elite distinction is the result of a cross-functional effort led by Impossible Pride, Impossible Foods’ LGBTQ+ employee resource group, to conduct an extensive self-audit of internal policies and practices. The audit showed a strong preliminary inclusiveness score and spurred meaningful improvements within the company.
Impossible Foods’ mission is to turn back the clock on global warming, set the industry standard for corporate diversity and inclusion while restoring biodiversity. The startup is doing that by creating a mainstream, mass-market, consumer movement to eliminate the most destructive technology in human history: animal agriculture. The company’s flagship Impossible Burger has already started to displace sales of animal-derived foods, whose production is one of the biggest generators of greenhouse gas emissions and the leading driver of the global meltdown in wildlife.
“Workplace diversity is the lifeblood that will keep us accountable and ultimately make us more successful in our mission,” said Jared Levan, Co-Chair of Impossible Pride, the employee resource group at Impossible Foods for LGBTQ employees and allies. “It makes me proud, as a queer professional and leader who has spent almost four years at the company, to see how we have managed to scale with integrity and ensure equality is a priority.”
Already considered the world’s No. 1 environmental startup, Impossible Foods joins the ranks of 767 U.S. businesses that also earned top marks for the 2021 index.
Over the past year alone, the leading food startup has strengthened its supplier code of conduct to reinforce its anti-bias and anti-discrimination policy; drafted a new policy on charitable giving that prevents contributions to organizations with discriminatory policies; and added LGBTQ+ considerations to their headquarters and manufacturing selection process.
LGBTQ+ equality in the workplace
The results of the 2021 CEI showcase how 1,142 U.S.-based companies are not only adopting workplace policies that support the LGBTQ+ community within the U.S., but also (for the 57% of CEI-rated companies with global operations) helping advance the cause of LGBTQ+ inclusion in workplaces abroad. Impossible Foods’ efforts in satisfying all of the CEI’s criteria earned a 100 percent ranking and the designation as one of the Best Places to Work for LGBTQ+ Equality.
“From the previously unimaginable impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, to a long overdue reckoning with racial injustice, 2020 was an unprecedented year. Yet, many businesses across the nation stepped up and continued to prioritize and champion LGBTQ+ equality,” said Alphonso David, Human Rights Campaign President. “This year has shown us that tools like the CEI are crucial in the work to increase equity and inclusion in the workplace, but also that companies must breathe life into these policies and practices in real and tangible ways. Thank you to the companies that understand protecting their LGBTQ+ employees and consumers from discrimination is not just the right thing to do—but the best business decision.”
The CEI rates employers providing these crucial protections to over 18 million U.S. workers and an additional 17 million abroad. Companies rated in the CEI include Fortune magazine’s 500 largest publicly traded businesses, American Lawyer magazine’s top 200 revenue-grossing law firms (AmLaw 200), and hundreds of publicly and privately held mid- to large-sized businesses.
The CEI rates companies on detailed criteria falling under four central pillars:
- Non-discrimination policies across business entities;
- Equitable benefits for LGBTQ workers and their families;
- Supporting an inclusive culture; and,
- Corporate social responsibility.
The full report is available online at www.hrc.org/cei.
