IDM ¦ Sustainability/News
the challenges of being a fast-growing
company with an extensive value chain
that includes agriculture, packaging,
transportation and manufacturing.
They approached EcoAct for help
with improving the quality of their
data calculation methodology, calculating
their Scope 3 emissions, devising
a more simplified methodology for
estimating emissions from fruit, and
engaging relevant people in the supply
chain team. All this was to provide the
basis for climate change targets and to
highlight the most important areas to
work on to reduce emissions.
EcoAct worked closely with innocent
to calculate their supply chain carbon
footprint from actual data, where
available, and to develop estimation
methodologies where it wasn’t. To calculate
emissions from fruit, mini Life
Cycle Assessments (LCAs) were developed
for the top 5 purchased fruits.
From this, it was possible to extrapolate
in order to estimate emissions for
all fruits purchased.
From this footprint, emission hotspots
were identified in order to focus
attention for target setting and emissions
reductions. Each of the hotspot
areas were assessed according to two
criteria: the ability to be influenced and
how material they are for the business.
This enabled EcoAct to prioritise the
emission hotspots we would focus on.
It is important for any target that
contextual and market changes, such
as new environmental initiatives and
the effects of the grid and transport
greening, are taken into account. For
this, a bespoke feasibility tool (CRaFT)
was developed which enables innocent
to visualise these impacts against their
32 · February 2020 ¦ international-dairy.com
new targets and help them make decisions
on what actions to take.
With targets set, it was time to tackle
the emissions. innocent recognised the
importance of a strong supplier engagement
strategy as key to achieving reductions
and hitting their target. An EcoAct
consultant worked alongside innocent
at their London headquarters to develop
a strategy for collecting data and
engaging the supply chain teams who
managed the relationships with suppliers.
As a result of this close partnership,
the teams felt part of the process and
were supported in making their specific
commitments for reducing emissions
within their area of the supply chain.
innocent have committed to carbon
neutrality for their Scope 1 and 2 emissions
and with their latest footprint
are in the process of selecting offsetting
projects that best align with their
values to offset their residual emissions
and get these emissions Scopes to net
zero. innocent is committed to their
ongoing journey towards further emission
reductions across all Scopes.
Turning challenge
into opportunity
Carbon neutrality is a significant goal and demands
commitment. However, when tackled
in more bite-sized chunks and approached
as a journey, it becomes a manageable challenge,
particularly when commercial benefits
are uncovered along the way.
The role of the food and beverage sector
is a vital one, not just in reducing its
portion of emissions but in helping to safeguard
food security for a growing population.
The opportunity to demonstrate
competitive credentials, to innovate and
future-proof our businesses is significant,
particularly if taken advantage of now.
References:
1 Food and Drink Federation https://
www.fdf.org.uk/sustainability-ambition2025
climate-change.aspx
2 Food and Drink Federation https://
www.fdf.org.uk/sustainability-ambition2025
climate-change.aspx
3 Marissa Peretz, 2017, Want to Engage
Millennials? Try Corporate Social Responsibility,
Forbes
https://www.forbes.com/sites/marissaperetz/
2017/09/27/want-to-engagemillennials
try-corporate-social-responsibility/#
55174e3f6e4e
4 Simon Jack, 2019, UK’s Biggest
Money Manager Warns on Climate
Catastrophe, BBC https://www.bbc.
co.uk/news/business-47941180?utm_
content=89535914&utm_
medium=social&utm_
source=twitter&hss_
channel=tw-40512706
EcoAct have been instrumental
in helping us work out what our
climate change target should
be as well as the best way to go
about achieving the target. They
offer a great balance between
providing the cold-hard technical
insight required alongside a
fun, friendly and engaging way
of doing things.
Simon Reid,
Sustainability Manager, innocent
European Dairy Conference 2020
19th May 2020, Berlin
The first European Dairy Conference (EDC) will focus on dairy product exports. The target groups of this conference
include dairies, milk trading companies, the food industry and representatives of related associations.
www.ife-ev.de