In August 2021, the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) issued its sixth assessment report on global climate change. The conclusion of the report is that, unless greenhouse gas emissions are dramatically reduced without delay, it will not be possible to limit global warming to around 1.5 or even 2 degrees Celsius.
We acknowledge that meat production contributes to global greenhouse gas emissions, and we are working intensely to reduce emissions deriving from the activities of our value chain – from the production of feed to our slaughter animals to the management of waste from our production.
Even though we operate in one of the most challenged sectors, we have high climate ambitions. By 2050, all meat from Danish Crown must be climate-neutral (net zero), and our current milestone is to reduce the carbon footprint from meat production by 50 per cent by 2030.
Heading for scientifically based climate targets
In 2020/21, we intensified our climate efforts, and in September 2021 we committed ourselves to defining scientifically based climate targets through the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi). This marks a new milestone to guide us towards 2050. We are currently mapping all significant emissions throughout our value chain so that we cover greenhouse gas emissions in Scope 1, 2 and 3, which will enable us to define new targets in 2021/22. Scope 3 covers aspects such as farm production of slaughter animals and is estimated to account for 90 per cent of our total CO2 emissions, which makes this a material parameter.
The first step is to get our climate data validated going forward, and to that end we will in 2021/22 begin to establish a new data setup to ensure systematic and regular reporting and monitoring of all our ESG data. To complement data retrieval from farmers via the Climate Track, we have launched a project to ensure effective integration of ESG data and data for primary greenhouse gas emissions from our supply chains. We will start in 2021/22 by engaging our primary Tier 1 suppliers, who have the largest environmental footprint.
Greenhouse gas emissions in our value chain
Scope 1
Direct emissions from the activities we directly control ourselves. This includes own energy consumption and the use of refrigerants and fuel for own vehicles.
Scope 2
Indirect emissions from the energy we buy. This includes electricity, steam, heating and cooling.
Scope 3
Indirect emissions from purchased goods and services. This includes especially suppliers of slaughter animals as well as packaging material and logistics suppliers and emissions from the handling of products, residual products and waste.
Target
Our climate vision is climate neutral (net zero) meat production by 2050. The first milestone is to reduce the carbon footprint of our meat production by 50 per cent by 2030.
SDGs
We support targets 13.1 and 13.2 by strengthening the resilience of our food production and its ability to adapt to climate change and by integrating initiatives against climate change throughout our value chain.