Food and drink manufacturers slash carbon dioxide by a third

By Michael Stones

- Last updated on GMT

Related tags Five-fold environmental ambition Carbon dioxide

Food and drink manufacturers' achievement in cutting CO2 emissions was praised by environment secretary Liz Truss
Food and drink manufacturers' achievement in cutting CO2 emissions was praised by environment secretary Liz Truss
Food and drink manufacturers’ achievement of slashing carbon dioxide emissions by 35%, has won praise from environment secretary Liz Truss.

Manufacturers hit the target against the 1990 baseline, with emissions falling by 664,000t of carbon dioxide, ahead of the original deadline of 2020, according to a new report from the Food and Drink Federation (FDF).

“This report showcases that economic growth and success need not be at the expense of environmental ambitions,”​ said Truss.

‘Isn’t a series of buzz words’

“For FDF members, producing more with less isn’t a series of buzz words, it’s an opportunity to increase efficiency and competitiveness. These are real achievements and it’s encouraging to see that FDF remains committed to working with its partners across the supply chain to face the environmental and economic challenges of the future.”

FDF interim director general Jim Moseley said food and drink manufacturers were committed to working together to target environmental areas through the FDF Five-fold Environmental Ambition.

“Our significant achievement of an absolute reduction of 35% in carbon dioxide emissions is a result of continued focus on energy efficiency and low carbon innovation by members and proof that this collective approach is working,”​ said Moseley.

“This focus and drive to raise our collective environmental performance remains at the heart of the Five-fold Environmental Ambition and we will continue working together to improve resource efficiency, including revising our emissions target over the coming months.”

‘Environmental performance’

The FDF Five-fold Environmental Ambition progress report details improvements in sustainability performance in food and drink manufacturing operations since 2007.

In addition to hitting the carbon dioxide target, the industry had also cut water use by 15.6% and achieved a 4.5% reduction in the carbon impact of packaging against the 2015 zero increase target of the Waste & Resources Action Programme Courtauld Commitment.

FDF members had reduced food and packaging waste sent to landfill to just 3% and were now focusing on further reducing mixed waste to reach the zero waste to landfill target by the end of this year.

Former FDF director Melanie Leech said the food and drink industry was acutely conscious of the responsibilities that came with its scale as the UKvs largest manufacturing sector. “FDF's Five-fold Environmental Ambition is the roadmap for collective environmental performance,” ​said Leech.

“The FDF is committed to helping member companies adopt life-cycle thinking to help achieve more sustainable production and consumption, as well as promoting innovation and technology to help us meet the environmental, social and economic challenges we face.”

Read more about the new report here​.

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1 comment

CO2 is the gas of life. This article is the rambling of fools.

Posted by Gerald Wilhite,

This article will someday be used as historical evidence of how government propaganda can cause a huge waste of time and taxpayer dollars.

Al Gore is a traveling con man who has bilked us out of over 100 million dollars that is now in his bank accounts. Gore has caused the crippling scientific mis-education of an entire generation of children regarding CO2, the carbon cycle, and global climate science. In any other time in history, Gore would be tarred and feathered and run out of any community he chose to land his private jet for re-filling his tanks with fossil fuel.

CO2 is the gas of life, not a pollutant. If we were experiencing global warming (we're not) any scientist who knew what he was talking about and not on a government or university payroll would never accuse CO2 as being the cause of it. If the blame label had to be placed on any greenhouse gas it would be H2O --- water vapor (aka humidity) -- which is far more powerful and far more plentiful than CO2. However, CO2 is the gas of life. Without CO2 and oxygen plants and animals could not exist.

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