Recently I chaired the first session of the UK Food and Drink Federation’s online convention. It was great to open the event with a focus on climate and carbon net zero – how food producers can work towards net zero, and it really shows how far our sector has come in the last year.
I joined FDF back in October 2019, new to food but with a full career in the energy sector. Having that background enabled me to hit the ground running, and in leading the climate change and energy policy work at FDF, this has been essential.
The first area for us to engage in was the heat debate.
While the pathway for decarbonising electricity is well understood, the same cannot be said for heat – and in food and drink manufacturing, emissions from heat use are currently around 4,000 k tCO2 per annum – and 97% of these emissions come from natural gas.
How can we de-carbonise this heat?
This is a question many industrial sectors have been grappling with to be able to feed into the UK Government’s industrial decarbonisation strategy coming in spring 2021.
To answer this question, I initiated a report with SLR Consulting on how to decarbonise heat in food and drink manufacturing.
Published in June 2020, the report found that on the whole, low grade heat can be electrified, whilst a decarbonised gas system and hydrogen will need to replace natural gas for high grade heat.
The analysis showed that whilst it is possible to fully decarbonise, a number of enabling measures are needed to bridge the gap between what is currently realistic and a ‘max tech scenario’.
The report makes recommendations including the need for long-term clarity of carbon pricing and mechanisms to encourage the move from high to low carbon energy solutions such as with a commitment to a third phase of Climate Change Agreements with a shift in focus to carbon reductions.
Knowledge sharing is essential
The report also raised the need for a dedicated scheme to fund key demonstration projects on step-change technologies, alongside a food and drink industry taskforce, to facilitate knowledge share across the sector on technology innovations and implementation and to work with government on policy development.
Indeed, collaboration among all stakeholders across all industries is key to making progress towards net zero – and not least in food and drink, which is the largest manufacturing sector in the UK.
But while I have talked a lot about scope 1 (direct) and scope 2 (indirect) emissions, the footprint of scope 3 emissions from the wider supply chain is much larger.
Full supply chain commitment to net zero
The recent British Retail Consortium (BRC) Climate Action Roadmap published on 10th November highlights that for the average UK citizen, 25% of their carbon footprint is from food.
They, alongside the National Farmers Union (NFU) plan to achieve net zero by 2040 – and to make all products sold in the UK net zero by 2040. These developments are galvanising action in the sector, and so too with us at FDF.
Having concluded our net zero narrative project, we are now underway with our roadmap to Net Zero and accompanying handbook for businesses – our core deliverable for 2021.
This will complete the farm-to-fork chain with the NFU and BRC. Core areas will include ingredient sourcing, packaging, manufacturing, storage and distribution as well as a chapter on consumers.
FDF has also joined forces with the government and other trade associations to build momentum on engaging SMEs on net zero, and to ensure engagement across all groups ahead of the UK hosting COP26 in November 2021.
2021 will be a very important and busy year!
The Food & Drink Federation (FDF), has been developing its programme on Net Zero over the last year, and with the UK Government hosting COP26 in November 2021, this has provided significant momentum. Their recent webinar officially launched the FDF 2021 work programme with a key note address from the UK Government’s Net Zero Business Champion, Andrew Griffith MP.
The webinar covered:
- Key-note speech from Andrew Griffith MP, Net Zero Business Champion
- Net Zero Ambition
- Roadmap to Net Zero project
- Feedback on Q4 2020 Net Zero Narrative Project
- 2021 work programme on Net Zero
Overall, there was an ambition and willingness to reduce impact with ambition to broaden targets. Most respondents indicated that they do have climate change and/or sustainability targets or aspirations and many raised the issue of plastics/packaging, food waste and water consumption as high on their agenda.
The FDF itself was seen as “a place for advice and an organisation that can help to share knowledge and insights”, while many saw the federation as able to offer education, collaboration, guidance an support and thought leadership. Influencing policy was seen as the primary role of the organisation.
Roadmap aims for the FDF were:
- Vision: Highlight FDF’s vision for a net zero UK food and drink industry by 2040
- Purpose: Clarify the industry’s role in delivering net zero, and the case for action
- Guidance: Produce accessible guidance to help accelerate decarbonisation activities.
Slides from the webinar can be downloaded here for an in-depth look at the FDF’s plans for reaching Net Zero.
For more information on the Food & Drink Federation, visit: www.fdf.org.uk
Emma Piercy will be a panellist on elemental talks ‘The Road to Net Zero for Food & Retail’ on 14th July. Join Emma and sector experts as they discuss setting realistic emission reduction goals, technology and operation considerations, leveraging innovative financial models and managing complex internal stakeholder environments. The session is free to attend, register here to secure your place.
