Major step toward climate targets: AGRANA is Austria’s first food producer with validated greenhouse gas reduction targets
Datum: 13.09.2023“We are delighted about the recognition of our climate targets and also regard this as an affirmation of our comprehensive climate strategy. This means that we are the first food producer in Austria to have validated emission-reduction targets. On the basis of our science-based targets, we will cut greenhouse gas emissions along the entire value chain (Scope 1+2+3) by more than 30 percent and emissions associated with our own production activities (Scope 1+2) compared to 2019|20 by half by 2030|31. In addition, we will also reduce our production-related emissions to net zero by 2040 and those along the entire value chain to net zero by 2050”, stresses Norbert Harringer, the board member responsible for raw materials, operations and sustainability at AGRANA Beteiligungs-AG.
Besides ongoing efforts to improve energy efficiency and a comprehensive green electricity package at all 55 sites around the world, the climate strategy also includes exploiting the energy contained in protein-depleted residual materials instead of natural gas from 2026|27. The volume of investments in efforts to reduce Scope 1+2 emissions in the period to 2040 will, from today’s perspective, be around € 470 million.
The starting point for defining AGRANA’s climate targets was the calculation of greenhouse gas emissions along the entire value chains (Scope 1+2+3) of each of its three business segments, Fruit, Starch and Sugar. Given its role as an energy-intensive processor of agricultural raw materials, AGRANA is one of the first B2B companies in the sector to accept the international challenge of estimating emissions associated with the growing of agricultural produce despite the incomplete supplier data.
Emissions associated with AGRANA’s business operations amounted to around 5.1 million metric tons of CO2e in the base year 2019|20. Around 80% of AGRANA's greenhouse gas emissions originate from the upstream and downstream value chain, with around 80% of these again attributable to the cultivation of agricultural raw materials. In order to reduce these emissions, AGRANA will be focussing on land use for agricultural production and on the impacts of agricultural growing methods. The aim is to collaborate with AGRANA’s suppliers and agricultural partners to develop and implement specific climate-related reduction targets by 2030.