Putting sustainability on the menu in food manufacturing

(Eco Business, 14 Dec 2020) To meet their sustainability targets, food manufacturers must tackle emissions across their entire supply chains. An immediate step they can take, is to reduce electricity consumption at their factories.

The global food system is so carbon-intensive that its emissions alone could be enough to heat the world by more than 1.5 degrees Celsius by the 2060s if nothing is done to change it, according to a new study by the Oxford Martin School, a research and policy organisation with a focus on sustainability at the University of Oxford.

The researchers found that, with a growing population that is also consuming more resource-intensive foods such as meat and dairy, emissions from food systems could warm the planet by more than 1.5 degrees Celsius within 30 to 45 years, even if all other sources of emissions were immediately stopped.

Food manufacturers need to tackle emissions from their entire supply chains, and they can start by cutting the carbon footprint of their factories with proven technologies.

A growing number of food and beverage manufacturers have done so by tapping energy-saving technologies such as smart sensors, advanced motors and variable speed drives—and are saving tens of thousands of dollars each year while achieving some of their sustainability targets.

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Eco Business, 14 Dec 2020: Putting sustainability on the menu in food manufacturing