Environmental Agency launches project to measure performance of food and drink sector

A new BEIS funded project aims to establish standardised metrics for measuring environmental performance of the food and drink sector, with the hope to minimise greenwashing.

The project aims to simplify business and public understanding of the environmental performance of companies in key areas, including greenhouse gas reduction and resource efficiency.

By helping manufacturers more effectively communicate their environmental performance, issues of greenwashing will be minimised.

In partnership with the Institute for Manufacturing at the University of Cambridge, Scottish Environment Protection Agency, Northern Ireland Environment Agency, Waste and Resources Action Programme and the British Standards Institute, this project hopes to incentivise companies towards greener manufacturing processes and business operations helping to tackle climate change.

Project lead Becca Tremain, of the Environment Agency, said: “One of the big challenges for food businesses trying to mitigate climate change is how to communicate their environmental performance that goes beyond legal compliance effectively and efficiently.”

“Different food businesses have developed and adopted various environmental metrics and it can be time-consuming for food businesses to collect data from different supplier systems.”

“This project seeks to address this challenge by standardising environmental metrics for food businesses that go beyond legal compliance.”

A grant of £195,000 has been provided from the Regulators’ Pioneer Fund launched by The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS).

IEMA, the Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment, trade associations and private sector organisations including Sainsbury’s, Nestle, Cranswick, 2 Sisters and Vitacress will be working on the project to understand and ensure the feasibility of the metrics.

Sarah Mukherjee, Chief Executive of IEMA, said: “Measuring the environmental performance of the food and drink sector is a complex task, but a vital one given the size and economic significance of the sector.”

“IEMA is uniquely positioned to contribute to the challenge given the expertise of its members in developing approaches to both understanding and mitigating the environmental impacts of supply chains across all areas of the economy.”

Business Minister Lord Callanan said: “This project aiming to standardise environmental metrics for the food and drink sector could pave the way for exciting developments in the sector, bringing benefits to British businesses and consumers alike.”