Boeing and KFC Chief Sustainability Officers have (quietly) left their roles

Boeing’s Chief Sustainability Officer Brian Moran and KFC’s Nira Johri both left their jobs in September – with no announcement from the companies regarding their replacements.

Brian Moran, who was appointed Chief Sustainability Officer at Boeing in January 2024, left the firm this September to join defense company Anduril Industries as Vice President and Head of Continental Europe. Neither Boeing nor Moran responded to this publication’s request for information about this departure and whether a new CSO will step into Moran’s shoes.

Similarly, KFC Chief Sustainability Officer Nira Johri, who had been in this role since 2023, left at the end of September. Sustainability responsibilities appear to have been transferred to KFC’s Global Chief Marketing Officer Valerie Kubizniak – and KFC did not respond to CSO Futures’ inquiry about a new CSO.

Jon Hixson, Chief Sustainability Officer at KFC’s mother company Yum! Brands for the last eight years, remains in the role.

Brian Moran’s time at Boeing

Moran stepped into Boeing’s CSO role in 2024 after the company’s Chris Raymond (who had been in post since 2019) was promoted to CEO of its services business.

Moran came  from a brand and communications background and previously served as Boeing’s Vice President of Global Sustainability Policy and Partnerships for three years. As CSO and a member of the executive council, he reported to the company’s President and CEO, as well as to the Governance and Public Policy committee of the Boeing Board of Directors.

At the time of Moran’s appointment, Boeing had a target of cutting absolute operational (Scope 1 and 2) emissions by 55% by 2030, from a 2017 base year. This target has now been updated to a 30% GHG reduction in Scope 1 and Scope 2 market-based emissions from 2023 base year. As of 2024, the company had cut these emissions by 0.2% – to 981,000 tonnes.

Boeing doesn’t have a target to reduce Scope 3 emissions from the use of its aircraft, which amounted to 373 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent last year.

Yum! Brands struggling to cut emissions amid growth ambitions

Yum! Brands’ absolute carbon footprint has been growing year after year along with the opening of new restaurants: in 2023, it declared 31.57 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent – up by nearly 7% year on year. Last year, this footprint went up again by 8%, to 34.1 million tonnes.

The company has 2030 targets to reduce absolute Scopes 1 and 2 emissions by 46% and Scope 3 intensity by 46% on a per restaurant basis, compared to 2019. Its 2024 sustainability report states that it has achieved a 25% reduction in Scope 2 and 2 and a 30% reduction in Scope 3 emissions per restaurant. 

KFC alone opened nearly 2,900 new restaurants in 2024, surpassing 30,000 locations worldwide, while Yum! Brands surpassed 61,000 units globally.