The Role of Carbon Footprint Reduction in the Food and Drink Industry

Reaching consensus on measuring and reporting carbon footprint, reducing carbon emissions while maintaining or improving cost efficiencies, as well as dealing with legal imperatives to reduce emissions and understanding consumer attitudes to sustainability are just some of the challenges that the food and drinks industry must face if it is to meet future demand for carbon reduction effectively.

Features and benefits

• Understand the commercial, legal, and consumer imperatives which drive the need for carbon reduction and reporting in the food and drink industry.
• Gain an insight into the significant sources of carbon emissions in the food and drink supply chain – and measures being taken to reduce them.
• Assess the different issues surrounding carbon footprint measuring and reporting, including the complexities of carbon footprint labeling.
• Understand how carbon emissions reduction can take place at the same time as maintaining or improving productivity and efficiency.
• Gain an insight into how carbon emissions reduction and carbon footprint labeling will need to develop if it is to make progress in the long term.

Highlights

Given consumer, commercial, and legal imperatives for action on carbon emissions reduction, carbon footprinting will remain a permanent part of the food and drink landscape. What is less certain is whether carbon footprint reduction will drive consumer purchasing decisions, or whether reporting carbon footprint drives meaningful carbon reduction.

The term carbon footprint is ubiquitous in the public sphere but agreement on how to measure it is not clear: should it include indirect emissions or simply direct emissions? In many cases the ability to take the more comprehensive approach by including indirect emissions is limited by data quality and the ability to procure it from suppliers.

Overcoming the lack of consumer engagement and understanding of what carbon footprint measurement and reduction means in real terms is one of the first and most significant challenges that food and drinks manufacturers will have to overcome. Reaching a critical mass of carbon footprint labeling will be a key driver of this.

Your key questions answered

• What do consumers think about sustainability and why should the industry act when consumer buying behavior doesn’t match up to their attitudes?
• What are the major legal frameworks in place to encourage and enforce carbon reduction and how do they apply to the food and drink industry?
• Which non-governmental bodies are having an impact on carbon reduction in the food and drink industry? What is their approach to helping businesses?
• What are the key challenges involved in comprehensive carbon footprint labeling programs? How can they be overcome?
• What’s the long-term outlook for carbon emissions reduction and cabon footprint labeling in the food and drinks industry?