The challenge of the frozen and refrigerated industry.
The frozen foods and refrigeration state for a number large challenges. As part of the value chain for the food and pharmaceutical industries, all companies will soon be required to report more and more on their CO2 emissions and what positive and negative impact they have on European climate goals. Customers and consumers expect transparency.
At the same time, there is an inherent ambition of the companies themselves to become more sustainable and reduce CO2 emissions wherever possible.
"As a coldstore operator, I am excited about this initiative by our federation. ESG is not just a report, it is also a choice for good governance, environmental awareness and social responsibility. At Jodifrost, we don't just store food products, we are committed every day with our employees, customers and suppliers to a future where corporate responsibility is the norm, not the exception." says Joris Olbrechts from Jodifrost.
From "no view of sustainability" to a sectoral approach.
Refrigerated storage plants use an enormous amount of electrical energy for cooling and freezing. So one of the central questions is: how can we make our energy consumption as small and as renewable as possible?
In addition, consumer demand for frozen foods is skyrocketing. The global frozen food market is expected to be worth USD 363.7 billion by 2028, with an annual compound growth rate of 5.1% during the forecast period.
But under the influence of CSRD and CSDDD, we are seeing an increase in the number of questions about "carbon emissions," "renewable energy," "diversity," "inclusion," "pollution," "reporting.
So our sector federation BE-Cold asked itself the question: are we all going to try to answer each question separately, each company for itself, in a different way?
That didn't seem like a logical choice to us. After all, in this way we ensure that 1) different ways of thinking arise 2) there is no uniformity in the market 3) the cost price is very high 4) quality cannot be guaranteed 5) the goal of effective sustainability is not achieved at all.
A sectoral approach
To answer all these questions together, BE-Cold partnered with The Ecological Entrepreneur. Ten members, representative of the industry's core business, will study the following questions during 2023-2024:
- How can we develop a standard that all frozen and refrigerated food companies can rely on for sustainability reporting?
- How do we develop a tangible, hands-on, science-based approach to making businesses more sustainable and reducing carbon emissions?
How do we ensure that for companies the reporting cost remains as low as possible, while they can get to work on the concrete actions to become more sustainable?
Sustainability: complex, or not?
'Sustainability is complex and not'. Sustainability is always presented as an impossible task, which is not at all easy to solve. Making our economy sustainable is indeed a huge challenge. On the other hand, many of the solutions are well known.
"To a 'layman,' sustainability is a black box. You do know that we have CO2 need to reduce, but what the net is, and how? No idea. That's why it's important to work with experts, but who also understand the day-to-day reality of our sector. The question is always: how can we make change both portable and tangible?" says Joris Olbrechts, of Jodifrost.
The end meet?
By the end of June 2024, we as a sector will have developed a standard, in line with the legal European obligations, as well as a sector strategy for sustainability. The standard that is being developed is an inventory of the material aspects of the frozen food and refrigeration industry and forms the basis for mandatory regulation such as CSRD. On the basis of knowledge building in the companies and an internal analysis of the scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions, a strategy will be built.
For example, one of the key elements is energy consumption. The general question is: How much energy does our sector consume, from what sources, and how can we reduce it?
An update in June 2024 is likely to follow. If there are companies within the sector, which are not yet aware of this initiative, but would like to join, this is still possible. They can contact the sector federation 'BE-Cold'.
