We are aware of the role food systems play in the climate crisis, as they alone are responsible for around one third of global greenhouse gas emissions [1]. For this reason, as a supplier of food, we want to ensure that the CO₂ emissions caused by our services at the Bremen site are kept low. We keep an eye on our CO₂ emissions and reduce them wherever possible. Nevertheless, we compensate for any emissions that occur by supporting a Gold Standard certified climate protection project in Peru: The Qori Q'oncha project. It provides solutions for clean and efficient cookstoves

The climate crisis has become a critical and global issue. The changing climate will pose a variety of economic and social risks in the coming decades. As a company that relies on the earth's resources - to provide us with food that we continually deliver to our customers - it is imperative that we become aware of the impact of our business on the environment through careful introspection.

How did we calculate the climate impact of our site?

In this context, we have launched the calculation of our corporate carbon footprint (CCF) for the year 2020. We engaged ClimatePartner for the calculation. ClimatePartner's model for the carbon footprint is based on the "Greenhouse Gas Protocol Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standard (GHG Protocol)." This is an internationally recognized standard for calculating CO₂ emissions. In addition to data from many years of cooperation with companies, ClimatePartner also uses data from databases such as ecoinvent - a transparent, non-profit company founded by various institutes of ETH Zurich and Agroscope and is technically (software) supported by ifu (Institut für Umwelttechnik) Hamburg.

What is included in this calculation?

Heat and electricity consumption of our office: Since we do not manufacture our own products, we can keep our consumption low compared to other emissions. 23 percent of our emissions are caused by heat generation in our offices. Our electricity consumption, on the other hand, accounts for only 4 percent.

Employee mobility: Aspects such as travel, business trips and vehicle fleet were also taken into account. Employee travel is considered the main driver of emissions in our corporate carbon footprint and is the most significant emitter at around 33 percent. Our vehicle fleet accounts for around 15 percent. Emissions from business travel (flights, rail travel, rental and private vehicles) are low for 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic and amount to around 13 percent.

Home office: The pandemic has led to many employees working from home. Emissions caused by home office (pre-chain heating/cooling, pre-chain fuels, and pre-chain electricity) combined amount to around 12 percent of our corporate carbon footprint.

What now?

Although we as a food importer and the associated business activities do not cause as much CO₂ emissions as if we were a food producer, we would like to further improve our carbon footprint. We will pay special attention to our most significant emitter (employee mobility) and we will give our team incentives to use low-emission mobility (e.g. business bike leasing, bike donation campaign or sustainable travel options such as climate-neutral flights). Our business travel in 2020 and 2021 has been greatly reduced due to the pandemic. We can only estimate how much CO₂ emissions we would normally have caused through our business travel. We will also switch to green electricity from 2022, reducing these CO₂ emissions to almost zero.

But what do we do with the CO₂ emissions that we have caused in 2020?

Our goal is for the amount of emissions to be lower in our next corporate carbon footprint. Until then, we have decided to offset all our CO₂ emissions and thereby create climate neutrality for our company. We achieve this by supporting a Gold Standard certified climate protection project in Peru.

Qori Q’oncha – Carbon Offset Project, Improved Cookstoves, Countrywide, Peru

Source: Clean cookstoves, Nationwide, Peru, climatepartner.com/1063

Source: Clean cookstoves, Nationwide, Peru, climatepartner.com/1063

The Qori Q'oncha project provides solutions for clean and efficient cookstoves. It supports families in poor, rural areas of Peru and was the first Program of Activities (PoA) to be Gold Standard certified. Clean cookstoves are simple devices made of metal or clay that use energy more efficiently. As a result, families save about 60 percent in fuel and thus also reduce their CO₂ emissions. A cookstove from the project saves an average of 8.3 tons of CO₂ per year.

Read more about the Qori Q’oncha Projekt here.
Find out more about our climate neutrality and ClimatePartner here.

[1] Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), „Food systems account for more than one third of global greenhouse gas emissions“, 09. March 2021.

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