Deirdre Ryan
Director of Sustainability and Quality Assurance, Origin Green at Bord Bia
A new webinar series has been designed to help prepare companies to set mandatory carbon emission targets.
Ireland’s €13 billion food and drink export industry has established a hard earned, global reputation as a leading producer of high- quality sustainable food and drink. Maintaining Ireland’s international reputation for sustainable production and improving the environmental impact of our food production methods must continue to be evidence-based.
Meeting growing environmental challenges
Bord Bia have developed a bespoke webinar series aimed at supporting Origin Green companies to adopt higher levels of ambition and more impactful methods in relation to their emissions targets. They are needed to meet the growing environmental challenges and evolving market needs that Ireland faces.
The series of five webinars is designed to enable large scale member companies to accelerate the development and implementation of ambitious and data-driven science based targets. Bord Bia has worked with Accenture to deliver the series which is designed to prepare companies for the upcoming requirement that all members with a turnover of over €50 million must establish carbon emissions targets before the end of 2022.
Science based targets are critical for Irish food, drink and horticulture companies to demonstrate credibility to their customers, investors, employees and regulators.
Demonstrating credibility to consumers
Science based targets are critical for Irish food, drink and horticulture companies to demonstrate credibility to their customers, investors, employees and regulators. Emissions reduction targets are considered “science based” if they are in line with what the latest climate science says is necessary to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement. They must limit global warming to well-below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and pursue efforts to limit warming to 1.5°C.
However, the process for setting science based targets can be complex and delivery on them can be challenging for teams with limited capacity. The methodologies, standards and solutions for setting and delivering on these targets are evolving, requiring frequent review by food, drink and horticulture companies.
The inaugural session of the science based targets in February 2022 offered an introduction for company CEOs and leadership teams.
Setting sustainability targets
Almost 300 food and drink companies across Ireland are verified members of Origin Green, representing over 90% of Ireland’s food and drink exports. Since 2012, Origin Green company members have set a total of 2,779 sustainability targets and established 13,600 sustainability initiatives.