General Mills detailed its progress in four environmental sustainability areas and announced new environmental sustainability goals for 2015. The company’s new, expanded environmental sustainability targets include: reducing water usage by 20%, reducing solid waste generation by 50%, reducing energy usage by 20%, and reducing greenhouse gas emission by 20%.

The four global environmental sustainability goals measure the company’s global manufacturing operations using rates normalized per metric ton of product. The water usage goal is measured against a 2006 baseline, while the solid waste, energy and greenhouse gas goals are measured against a 2005 baseline.

General Mills has also established a U.S. transportation goal of reducing the amount of fuel used to ship each pound of product by fiscal 2015, using fiscal 2009 as a baseline. Achieving the U.S. transportation goal would reduce the rate of greenhouse gas emissions generated by shipping the company’s products by 35 percent by fiscal 2015. General Mills also detailed its progress in each category through the end of the company’s 2010 fiscal year.

“Our 2005 goals were aggressive,” said Jerry Lynch, chief sustainability officer for General Mills, “and we did not achieve them all. But our progress has been substantial and we are raising the bar. We are learning and improving our capabilities in this area every day. We want to set goals that will stretch us to do more.”

For examples and additional discussion of the company’s commitment to environmental sustainability, download the company’s 2010 Corporate Social Responsibility Report, released earlier this year.