4.4 Transparency in the footprint of our products

Measuring the environmental impact (or “footprint”) of our ingredients, operations and products is key to reducing our scope 3 emissions, as we are only able to manage what we measure. We are quantifying our footprint based on the robust and internationally standardised accounting methodology Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). This method allows us to calculate dependable results in a systematic way, make robust decisions based on these results, and deliver high-quality footprint data to our functions and stakeholders.

Nutreco defined its internal footprint database in 2021, which maps all our purchased ingredients with quality-assured LCA metrics, aligned with leading LCA standards. The database covers seven different environmental impact categories, including not only the carbon footprint, but also indicators for topics such as water footprint or land use.

Our progress

In 2022, we focused on connecting our internal footprint database with different internal systems. This enabled us to calculate and report the footprint of our products and company in a more automated way, and bring this information into the business functions and OpCos, where the reduction efforts ultimately need to take place.

One milestone we reached was the finalisation of a scope 3 carbon footprint dashboard, linking our Nutreco footprint database to our procurement data system. This enables us to calculate and track our scope 3 carbon footprint and gives valuable insights into which regions, local plants, ingredients and suppliers drive Nutreco’s carbon footprint most.

We also achieved a second milestone during the year: integrating footprint metrics into our feed formulation software. This gives us a powerful tool to ecodesign our products in the future, enabling customers to consider footprint metrics in addition to price and nutritional quality in product formulation. This integrated solution also helps us to calculate product footprints in a more automated way and understand how different formulation choices cause different impacts on a product level. The solution is now available for all our OpCos to use and is already actively used in our key markets in Europe, North and South America and Australia. We also created an internal tool to help us calculate the full cradle-to-gate footprints of our products by simply selecting the product packaging, location of the plant and outbound transport information.

While we made good progress in 2022, we still have more to do. One area we continue to work to improve is data quality, an important aspect often not well addressed when footprint metrics are calculated and communicated. Our current scope 3 baseline and the ingredient-related footprint of our products is mainly based on average or secondary data. While this is consistent with LCA standards, and we only source information from quality-assured LCA databases, there are still uncertainties associated with average or secondary data. To achieve more accurate calculations and to differentiate better between the performance of our suppliers, we need to collect more primary data.

We already started to request primary data from key suppliers in 2022 and we aim to increase this collection effort significantly in 2023 (See Improving our impact across the supply chain). To create a level playing field and collect comparable data, we have developed a specific data collection template, including a data quality questionnaire. We also have an internal data quality check procedure to guarantee supplier LCA data aligns with the leading LCA standards before we take any primary data into our footprint database. We want to introduce a data quality KPI into our systems that will enable us to track, validate and consistently reduce data uncertainty.

In 2023, we have plans to further advance our LCA work in a number of other areas:

  • We will seek external certification of the Nutreco footprint database and its integration into formulation software.
  • We plan to further build our LCA models to integrate product use and end-of-life phase emissions so we can analyse the complete life cycle of our products.
  • In order to create more dependable scope 3 baseline and product footprint calculations, we will request more and better primary data from our suppliers.
  • We plan to introduce uncertainty parameters to measure data quality and its improvement and develop a solution for automated batch level cradle-to-gate LCAs. And we are working on labelling our key products with LCA metrics.
  • We will also further develop and implement farm footprint calculation tools and carbon footprint reduction programs for swine and poultry.
 

Giving our customers insight in their footprints

The first focus of our environmental footprint reduction program has been on offering dairy farmers a program to reduce the carbon footprint of milk. Various dairy companies have set clear targets in this area and have or will embed carbon footprint reduction and other sustainability needs in their milk payment systems.

Nutreco’s footprint reduction program provides customers with tools to calculate the environmental footprint of feed and milk, including MyFeedPrint, launched 2022 and MyMilkPrint, which will be launched in 2023. The program also includes feed and farm management intervention options to help farmers reduce the footprint from feed and enteric methane emission from their cows. We are using products and services to improve the health and longevity of dairy cows, in turn, enhancing efficiency and further reducing the carbon footprint of milk. We believe it will be technically and economically feasible to reduce the carbon footprint of milk by up to 30%, depending on the financial incentives available to farmers: for example, a premium payment for milk that meets specific sustainability criteria.

My FeedPrint helps Ireland's agriculture sector assess its environmental impact

The Irish government recently set out to better understand how the country's agricultural community contributes to its environmental footprint. They have started various projects to create LCAs for livestock farms across the island.

Read case study

Chapters:

4.1 Climate and footprinting
4.2 Natural resources
4.3 Novel and circular ingredients
4.4 Transparency in the footprint of our products
4.5 Sustainable packaging