Member companies of the Food and Drink Federation (FDF) have cut their CO2 emissions by 17 percent since 1990 - the equivalent of taking 22,000 cars off the road.
The report shows that the industry has released 58,000 tonnes of CO2 less on average per year since 1990. Member companies have achieved this by boosting productivity, improving energy efficiency in their manufacturing processes and using more renewable sources of energy.
Tom Delay, CEO of The Carbon Trust congratulated the FDF: “The Carbon Trust welcomes the real efforts FDF is making towards understanding greenhouse gas issues in the food sector and congratulates it on helping its members to make significant reductions in their carbon emissions.”
FDF has announced that not only have they drastically cut their carbon emissions, but they have also recycled or recovered 82 per cent of the food and packaging waste created in factories and launched the Federation House Commitment, under which 237 food and drink manufacturing site are working to improve water efficiency.
Fiona Dawson, chair of FDF’s Sustainability and Competitiveness steering group said:
“Our report demonstrates that our members are committed to making a real difference to the environment. The reduction in CO2 emissions is an incredible achievement and sets us well on the way to reaching out target or cutting emissions by 20 per cent by 2010.
“As with other sectors we are currently experiencing challenging economic times. However, our members remain determined to meet the commitments contained in FDF’s Five-fold Environmental Ambition.”
FDF launched its Five-fold Environmental Ambition in 2007, setting targets like sending no food or packaging waste to landfill after 2015. The plan also urges companies to embed environmental standards in their transport practices to achieve fewer and friendlier food transport miles.
The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Hilary Benn is impressed by the FDF’s actions:
“This is an example of what businesses can do to improve their environmental performance by working together. We need to see more of this.”
For more information about FDF visit http://www.fdf.org.uk
