Convenience food group Greencore has joined The Climate Pledge, a commitment co-founded by Amazon and Global Optimisation in September 2019 to meet the Paris Agreement goal to be net zero carbon by 2040.
This is 10 years ahead of the 2050 schedule set out in The Paris Agreement.
Greencore has committed to measuring and reporting greenhouse gas emissions on a regular basis, while it said it will also implement decarbonisation strategies in line with the Paris Agreement through business changes and innovations, including efficiency improvements, renewable energy, materials reductions and other carbon emission elimination strategies.
It also aims to neutralise any remaining emissions with additional, quantifiable, real, permanent and socially-beneficial offsets to achieve net zero annual carbon emissions by 2040.
Greencore recently published its new sustainability strategy as part of its first Sustainability Report, which contains a range of pledges across the areas of sourcing, manufacturing, and community engagement.
Its commitments include a fully recyclable sandwich skillet will be developed and brought to market in 2021 as well as a deforestation-free supply chain by 2025.
Greencore has also committed that its raw materials will be sustainably sourced by 2030, while all surplus product will be donated to local communities by 2022.
The company said that as a leading convenience food manufacturer in the UK, Greencore has a transformative role to play when it comes to fighting food waste and hunger while being climate-smart, both on a local and global level.
In addition to being committed to net zero for its own operations, Greencore is also in the process of setting Science Based Targets for its supply chains, where the majority of its carbon footprint lies.
Patrick Coveney, CEO at Greencore, said the company is passionate about playing its part in creating and delivering a more sustainable, equitable and inclusive food system.
"Through our group-wide sustainability strategy we have made significant reductions in direct greenhouse gas emissions, energy consumption, and total waste generated, including food waste," the CEO said.
"We promote water stewardship across all of our manufacturing sites and greater uptake of sustainable packaging materials for our products. We have also strengthened our sustainability procurement requirements - but we know we can go much further," he added.
