Carbon Reduction

Commitment from industry

UK food and drink manufacturers have a good track record when it comes to carbon reduction. The industry accounts for 11% of the food chain's greenhouse gases – and FDF members for about 6% to 7% of the total.

Food and drink manufacturers reduced their CO₂ emissions by 17% in 2006 compared to 1990. This amounts to an average saving of 58,000 tonnes of CO₂, the equivalent of taking 22,000 cars off UK roads each year and are working to achieve more, e.g. under FDF's voluntary Climate Change Agreement with the Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC).

To support members efforts, FDF has worked with environmental consultants Enviros to develop a Carbon Management Best Practice Guide. It provides tips for improving the efficiency of energy using equipment such as boilers, ovens and refrigeration plants.

FDF has also worked closely with the Carbon Trust on a new service for FDF members which will allow companies to review and reduce energy use in food and drink refrigeration. Such technical surveys have the capability, on average, to identify refrigeration related energy savings and emissions reductions of up to 25%.

Carbon footprinting

As concerns about the environmental impact of consumer goods industries have grown, so has the debate about the need to develop a carbon labelling scheme for individual products.

FDF has been at the heart of work led by the British Standards Institute, Defra and the Carbon Trust to develop a single UK methodology for measuring carbon footprints across whole supply chains. The Publicly Available Standard (called PAS 2050) published in October 2008, reflects input and support from FDF as a member of the PAS Steering Group and via public consultations.

We believe that a single methodology to measure carbon footprints across the supply chain is best and will support PAS 2050 as an important tool for identifying and driving CO₂ hotspots out of the food chain.