A little digging can go a long way to effective carbon reduction, but don’t get too bogged down in the data. By David Burrows
Last week marked the launch of the latest Footprint Intelligence report: ‘Data decarbonisation and diets – how foodservice can benefit as a net-zero leader’. I believe the launch, hosted by co-writer Nick Hughes, went down well; as did the lunch – a plant-forward affair at Apricity, in London’s Mayfair, with green leaf and kale starter and a butternut squash main.
Hopefully, those attending and the wider readership will find the report easy to digest too. These reports, we hope, have been a valuable addition to the content at Footprint. Indeed, the freedom to write upwards of 5,000 words (about 30 pages) and spend two months or more absorbed in research, allows us to dig deep into the weeds of topics that are vexing caterers, hotels, restaurants, wholesalers, pubs and food and drink brands.
And no topic concerns the sector – and business at large – more than net-zero currently. It is fiercely complex – and that complexity only increases with geographical market presence, category scope, product and services mix, the capability of the workforce and the supply chain. We are certainly at a point where the scale of change needed to deliver commitments relating to emissions reduction is hitting home for those tasked with achieving them.
The first carbon checkpoint, as it were, is only five years away, by which time emissions need to be reduced by 43% to stay on track with net-zero by 2050 and no more than 1.5°C of warming (as called for in the Paris Agreement). There is little doubt that nerves are jangling already (in no small part thanks to global geopolitics and moves to reshape the narrative around net-zero as unnecessary and costly).
In some cases, targets are being realigned. To suggest this was down to Donald Trump would give the US president far too much credit. He may be hell-bent on derailing the world’s carbon reduction progress but another train of thought is that companies are simply setting more realistic targets as part of a “renewed focus on reducing emissions”, according to John Lang, who leads the Net Zero Tracker on behalf of the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU).He has noted how companies are implementing supply chain and product-use interventions; maximising their clout across their full spheres of influence; and pursuing beyond value chain mitigation to allow them to take responsibility for their unabated greenhouse gas emissions.
Lang wasn’t interviewed for the our new report, but companies in the foodservice and hospitality space we spoke to are certainly doing some of the things he highlights – and in some cases more besides. A less but better approach to beef is reducing emissions. Farm-level interventions are cutting methane in the dairy supply chain, with the results being used to persuade major coffee shop chains (who have scope 3 emissions reduction targets to meet) to switch suppliers. Transparency has improved, with some businesses confident to shout about their progress and problems, rather than hush up about net-zero altogether.
Improvements in data have helped underpin all this, as we explain in the report. Foodservice companies are collecting it and using it to drive better decisions; their clients are demanding it; suppliers are supplying it. Standardisation of all this would perhaps take it to the next level. This is happening, but it’s a slow process.
What does that mean for those looking to cut carbon fast, and stick to their 2030 promises? I asked Anya Doherty, founder and managing director at the report’s partner Foodsteps, about this and she said something that stuck with me long after I’d turned off our video call. Doherty suggested not to get “bogged down” in the data too much. “It can be a distraction,” she explained. “The data only needs to be good enough to serve the purpose you need it for – so decarbonisation of the food system over the next five years. And there are some pretty well evidenced and simple things we can do to achieve that.”
The ‘Data decarbonisation and diets’ report is available to download here.
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