Foundation Earth and Foodsteps have joined forces to revolutionise the food industry amidst growing concerns for sustainability and environmental impact. As their partnership enters its second year, we delve into their achievements, collaborations and their vision for the future of food labelling.

What has our partnership achieved over the past year?

Throughout the past year, Foundation Earth and Foodsteps have collaborated diligently to conduct comprehensive farm-to-fork Life Cycle Assessments (LCAs) using Foundation Earth’s Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) aligned methodology. Together, they have analyzed the sustainability of over 50+ products across four companies, offering environmental impact scoring and valuable recommendations to food companies. Empowering businesses with informed decisions, this collaboration has driven positive change.

“We are excited and proud to be working with Foodsteps in our common goal to drive sustainability within the food value chain. Our mutual ambition is to make ecolabelling the new norm, helping companies meet their targets on environmental performance and transparency, but importantly offering a widely harmonised method that allows for benchmarking and creates a level playing Field. Avoiding proliferation will be at the heart of our work,” says Cliona Howie, CEO of Foundation Earth.

An outline of our collaborations with Government Agencies in the UK

Recognising the significance of working alongside government agencies and policymakers, Foundation Earth and Foodsteps collectively engage with DEFRA (Department for Environment and Rural Affairs) and other relevant entities. By aligning their work with national priorities, they actively contribute to developing national labelling schemes and research initiatives. Foundation Earth strives to create a level playing field for businesses and ensure consistent communication with customers. Foodsteps support this mission and is also involved in many internal DEFRA working groups and works to help officials share guidance towards a standardised environmental labelling system within the UK.

Our thoughts on the future of food carbon and environmental labelling

Foundation Earth and Foodsteps support initiatives that advocate for an international single-food labelling system. Their collective aim is to drive transformative impact on a global scale. By fostering collaboration between public and private entities, they seek to spur innovation, inform policy decision-making, and inspire commitment, transparency, and improvement within the food system. Their collaborative approach accelerates progress and scalability.

Looking ahead

The partnership between Foundation Earth and Foodsteps has already achieved remarkable progress in creating a more sustainable future for the food industry. Through their comprehensive assessments, collaborations with government agencies, and dedication to harmonised labelling, they inspire positive change and reshape our perception of the environmental impact of the food we consume. Together, they strive for a greener and more sustainable world, inviting others to join their cause and make a significant impact on the global food system.

The post Foundation Earth partners with Foodsteps to further access to environmental impact data appeared first on Foundation Earth.

In today’s world, sustainability has evolved from a trendy buzzword into a guiding principle for individuals and businesses alike. Embracing sustainable best practices not only benefits the environment and communities around the world, but also yields advantages for businesses. In this blog, we will explore why adopting sustainable practices is the right decision for businesses, focusing on the food and drink industry as an example.

1. Enhance your business’s reputation and attract new customers

Embracing sustainability offers a valuable opportunity to build a positive brand image. For example, by prioritising sustainable farming and production methods, businesses can attract environmentally conscious consumers who actively seek out products and services that align with their values.

Clear and transparent communication is vital for businesses to reduce the risk of reputational damage and avoid greenwashing claims. Making this information readily available on your website and other touchpoints for customers to access is increasingly essential. Today’s time-constrained consumers lack the luxury of thoroughly researching every company they purchase from. Therefore, it is crucial for brands to simplify and streamline information delivery, making it effortless for consumers to access and understand.

Additionally, food ecolabelling provides businesses with the chance to include clear and transparent information on their products about the environmental impact. This empowers consumers to make informed choices and support businesses that share their sustainability values and goals.

2. Cost savings through resource efficiency

Deploying sustainable practices can lead to significant cost savings by reducing energy and resource consumption. By developing a comprehensive sustainability strategy and tracking your actions, your business can identify areas where operating costs can be reduced, ultimately leading to increased profitability. Conducting Life Cycle Assessments (LCAs) and utilising food environmental scoring are effective ways to gain tangible insights into your current production and value chains.

By monitoring your progress over time and utilising scoring systems, businesses can also identify areas for improvement. This data-driven approach to sustainability helps optimise operations, reduce waste, and minimise your business’s environmental footprint, resulting in long-term cost savings.

3. Drive innovation and product development

Going sustainable not only benefits the environment, but also drives innovation and encourages the development of new, eco-friendly products and services. When businesses adopt sustainable practices, they are incentivised to invest in research and development to create sustainable packaging, ingredients and innovative production methods.

To effectively implement sustainable practices, it is crucial to have a clear sustainability strategy in place. This strategy should outline your goals and provide a roadmap for how you will achieve them. By also incorporating sustainability tracking mechanisms, such as environmental scoring, you can measure your progress and identify opportunities for innovation and improvement.

4. Build trustworthy relationships with stakeholders

Sustainable businesses are more likely to build long-term relationships with suppliers who share similar values. Sustainability is not a job for one person; it requires collaboration and engagement with all stakeholders who are affected by your business and its activities. By developing a clear set of strategic actions and engaging with your stakeholders, your business will be able to identify any present challenges and new opportunities to improve your sustainability efforts.

Implementing sustainability tracking mechanisms throughout your supply chain, such as food environmental scoring, can help you identify and collaborate with suppliers that adhere to sustainable practices. This promotes a mutually beneficial and trustworthy partnership, ensuring the integrity of sustainability goals throughout the value chain.

5. Gain a competitive advantage

In a crowded market, embracing sustainability can help businesses stand out from their competitors. To build a successful brand, it is essential to understand and communicate your brand’s value proposition. While sustainable practices alone may not be the sole reason for consumers to make a purchase, purpose-led brands have a significant advantage. To capitalise on it, they must excel in their offerings and be exceptional at what they do. By combining a remarkable product with a compelling story and a robust sustainability strategy, brands can forge strong connections with consumers.

Food ecolabelling also provides a clear competitive edge by showcasing a business’s commitment to sustainability. This not only attracts environmentally conscious consumers but also boosts market share, as more and more individuals actively seek out more sustainable options. By differentiating yourself as a sustainable business and tracking your sustainability actions, you can position yourself as a leader in the industry and attract a loyal customer base.

6. Increase customer loyalty

Consumer preferences have shifted towards supporting businesses that prioritise sustainability. By adopting sustainable practices, businesses foster trust and loyalty among their customer base. However, many studies on consumer behaviour reveal that a significant portion of consumers view eco-claims as mere marketing tactics. Therefore, businesses must embrace sustainability – not just for promotional purposes but because it is the right thing to do.

To combat greenwashing and demonstrate sincerity, companies need to make public declarations about their commitment to sustainability. By incorporating sustainability tracking processes and regularly sharing progress updates with your customers, you can showcase your ongoing efforts to drive meaningful change.

Ensuring your website includes clear and transparent information on your efforts is essential in this process, enabling consumers to easily identify and choose products that align with their values. As a result, businesses that prioritise sustainability and track their actions can cultivate long-term relationships with their customers, leading to increased loyalty and advocacy.

Embracing sustainable best practices is not only the right decision for the environment but also for businesses themselves. By developing a comprehensive sustainability strategy, tracking your actions, and communicating your progress to build a brighter future for your business and the world, your business can thrive in a rapidly changing marketplace. So, take the leap and embrace sustainability as a core pillar of your business strategy.

ABOUT DONAL QUINN

Donal is the Founder of ENSO, an online platform that empowers businesses to create and communicate their own sustainability strategies. With a background in marketing and managing sustainability initiatives, Donal witnessed a knowledge gap between business practices and sustainability best practices. To address this, he developed the ENSO platform, enabling businesses to connect with customers, increase revenues, and have a positive impact on the environment and society. Donal is dedicated to driving sustainable change and inspiring businesses to integrate sustainability into their operations.

To learn more about ENSO visit www.ensoinitiatives.com

The post 6 ways that embracing sustainability will transform your business – Guest Blog appeared first on Foundation Earth.

Expanding our range of advisors allows us to gain access to diverse perspectives and expertise in environmental issues, policy-making, finance, consumer behaviour and technology – among others. This is essential in building further independent, voluntary members across the wide scientific disciplines that are fundamental to the holistic vision of Foundation Earth.

The depth of expertise in this group supports and empowers informed decision-making and forges impactful partnerships. It also critically enriches our Scientific Committee with esteemed scientists and researchers to strengthen scientific rigor and credibility, allowing us to propose the most optimum solution for businesses and consumers alike.

Through our expanded committee we are thrilled to foster a collaborative ecosystem where knowledge is shared, cross-disciplinary dialogue thrives, and impactful initiatives are born.

Who are the new faces joining the Foundation Earth Scientific Committee?

Vincent Colomb

Vincent Colomb from ADEME, the French Agency for Ecological Transition is an accomplished environmental expert and has been leading the French Government’s efforts in the world of ecolabelling. With a wealth of experience in life cycle assessments and eco-design – particularly for the agricultural and food sectors – Vincent Colomb has been a driving force behind the development of the French LCI AGRIBALYSE food database, and has also contributed to the establishment of the Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) framework at European level.

Since mid-2022, Vincent has taken on the responsibility of coordinating ADEME’s efforts to develop ecolabelling initiatives for all types of products and services, in compliance with the French Climate law enacted in 2021. His key objective for 2023-24 is to bring to fruition an extensive ecolabelling scheme for the food and textiles sectors in France. Read more about our work with the French Government here.

Julia Vogt

Julia is an Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of Reading in the UK. Her laboratory investigates how psychological processes shape health-related and ethical behaviours such as choice of sustainable and healthy food. Some of her current projects are looking into what makes people attend to food labels, or on the role of self-control and emotions and stress in food choice.

Julia holds a BSc and MSc in Psychology from the University of Würzburg, Germany, and a PhD in Psychology from Ghent University, Belgium. She worked in laboratories in Germany, Belgium, and the US, including two years at the Behavioural Economics Centre at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

Adrian Williams

Adrian’s research career progressed through a wide range of experimentally-based agri-environmental research including biological treatment systems, silage conservation, gaseous emission measurement and control, and improved manure management methods (at the BBRC’s Silsoe Research Institute). He later concentrated on mathematical modelling, initially using process models, leading to work in whole-farm agri-environmental and systems modelling, and environmental Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), including a move to Cranfield University. He led work on systems-based LCA work that addressed subjects from individual commodity production and consumption to enhancing cattle health. He has also coordinated pioneering work for the WWF that was part of the first evaluation of the UK’s GHG emissions from food consumption. He led two subsequent projects on the impacts of national diet change on GHG emissions, land use and other environmental impacts.

He is part of the team that improved and delivers the UK agricultural greenhouse gas (GHG) inventory for the IPCC. More recent work focused on the LCA of GHG removal (or net emissions technology), particularly through soil management and the valuation of the environmental impacts of scientific activities. His last project for Defra – the UK’s Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs – was a comparative LCA of cattle production from the least to the most intense. He is now retired and a visiting research fellow at Cranfield university.

Klaus Grunert

Klaus G. Grunert is a Professor of Marketing at Aarhus University, and is the founder of the MAPP Research Center. He is a consumer behaviour researcher with an interdisciplinary orientation. Most of his research is on consumer behaviour with regard to food and drink, with a background in the disciplines of marketing, agricultural economics and food science. He has dealt with questions around consumer decision-making, consumer values and attitudes, consumer experience and consumer lifestyle. His research has equal focus on scientific excellence and practical applicability, and he has extensively cooperated with both industry and public policy institutions.

Klaus believes in interdisciplinarity and has cooperated widely with researchers in other social sciences, as well as in the technological and natural sciences. Having an h-index of 93, he is the author of 12 books, more than 250 academic papers in international refereed journals and numerous other publications. Klaus is a past president of the European Marketing Academy and was a professor at the European Institute for Advanced Studies in Management.

The post Foundation Earth welcomes new members to its Scientific Committee appeared first on Foundation Earth.

The French Government’s lead expert Vincent Colomb joins a Dutch leading expert Dr Koen Boon and the top UK food scientist Professor Chris Elliott OBE on the committee, marking an increased level of collaboration between the most advanced European initiatives, to support the mission Foundation Earth has set on impactful, harmonised ecolabelling.

Alongside the new appointment to the Foundation Earth Scientific Committee, which already includes other experts in sustainability, ecolabelling and consumer behaviour, Foundation Earth is announcing intentions to initiate a R&D programme designed to close the remaining gaps between its own method and the method being led by the French Government.

It is inviting expressions of interest for potential partners and supporters for the R&D programme, which it is hoped will be the next substantial step towards agreeing a single, harmonised and optimum environmental labelling system for food and drink across the European continent.

Vincent Colomb from ADEME, the French Agency for Ecological Transition is an accomplished environmental expert and has been leading the French Government’s efforts in the world of ecolabelling.

With a wealth of experience in life cycle assessments and eco-design – particularly for the agricultural and food sectors – Vincent Colomb has been a driving force behind the development of the French LCI AGRIBALYSE food database, and has also contributed to the establishment of the Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) framework at European level.

Since mid-2022, Vincent has taken on the responsibility of coordinating ADEME’s efforts to develop ecolabelling initiatives for all types of products and services, in compliance with the French Climate law enacted in 2021. His key objective for 2023-24 is to bring to fruition an extensive ecolabelling scheme for the food and textiles sectors in France.

“Broader and more reliable environmental information is expected by many compagnies and consumers worldwide. We are in an exciting time of experiments and testing, with access to more and more powerful assessment tools and data access. ADEME shares Foundation Earth’s science-driven vision and transparency principles. I am very glad to join this initiative and to share experience with European and international partners, joining efforts to speed up the shift towards a more sustainable food system,” said Vincent Colomb, Ecolabelling Project Coordinator at ADEME.

Vincent joins an array of talented experts on the Committee including Chairman Professor Chris Elliott OBE of Queen’s University Belfast, one of the UK’s leading food scientists and leader of the UK Government’s investigation into the 2013 horsemeat scandal, and Koen Boon from Wageningen University, who is leading the Netherlands’ research and implementation of food ecolabels.

“Foundation Earth strives to convene the best expertise in the field of ecolabelling to ensure our method is as robust as possible. The French Government has been working on food ecolabelling for several years and has uncovered key intelligence that can help all move a step closer to an accurate, science-based and consistent approach to environmental labelling. We are honoured to welcome Vincent to our Scientific Committee, bringing more representation from across European public initiatives in this space,” says Cliona Howie, CEO at Foundation Earth.

Foundation Earth’s Scientific Committee plays a pivotal role in ensuring that our work is grounded in scientific accuracy and integrity. Made up of leading experts in various fields related to environmental sustainability, the Committee provides guidance and recommendations to ensure that all of Foundation Earth’s developments are science-based and evidence-driven.

“Moving towards true harmonisation will be best achieved by joining forces and working together towards a common goal. That is why Foundation Earth is taking a leadership role to coordinate with other leading ecolabelling initiatives across Europe, such as France and The Netherlands, promoting knowledge sharing and coordination at scale,” said Prof Chris Elliott OBE of Queen’s University Belfast, Chairman of Foundation Earth’s Scientific Committee.

The post French Government joins Foundation Earth as harmonisation of environmental labelling gathers pace appeared first on Foundation Earth.

This vast array of data available is insufficiently standardised, is often opaque and inconsistent. Those factors can prevent individual food businesses, let alone entire food chains from making highly informed, optimal decisions – individually or multilaterally – to improve competitive advantage, brand equity and long-term security.

At the same time, all this data and information can make things more confusing for shoppers who want to be more sustainable, potentially limiting their ability to understand what to buy, from whom, and when, with confidence. ​

This can also be applied to measuring and publishing environmental insights: when it comes to truly measuring a product’s ecological impact, there is an inherent value and importance in accessing more standardised, verified, consistent, & science-based data to enable retailers brands – as well as their consumers – to make better, more informed decisions.

Foundation Earth: creating the gold standard for ecolabelling

At Foundation Earth we believe that accurately measuring the environmental impact assessment of any product across its lifecycle is a vital “golden thread” for an agri-food business’s long-term sustainability strategy.

Never has accurate and transparent environmental insights been so vital.

The Financial Times recently reported that just 20 per cent of food shoppers trust brands’ sustainability claims, while many businesses are reporting that poor access to data and supply chain transparency are stopping them from improving trust in their sustainability initiatives. Nearly 6 in 10 consumers are willing to change their shopping habits to reduce environmental impact, and of those who regard themselves as “very committed to action on sustainability”, 7 in 10 are willing to pay a premium for brands that provide this transparency. Alongside this very real increased environmental consumer pressure is the increasing environmental policy legislation coming down the line.

In response to this, Foundation Earth set out on a mission to provide the food industry and its customers with an accurate, trustworthy, and defensible measurement and grading of a product’s environmental impact, which can then be incorporated into a business decision with confidence, while also enhancing and supporting a business’s green credentials. ​

Three principals guide our environmental impact approach, and which shape our service. ​

• First, we are independent. There are many existing labels out there that are industry-sponsored, making it hard to trust the objectivity of what they communicate. Our belief is that consumers, faced with so many ecolabelling organisations and claims, perceive us as having greater credibility if we remain independent and neutral. We do not represent one business or sector of the food system over the other. We also recognise that the food system is planet-sized, and that supply chains operate in a globally connected manner. That is why we advocate for harmonised methods across several national and international policy approaches.​
• Second, while we are commercially astute, we are ourselves a not-for-profit. This too is a conscious decision. Being mission-led means working with all food supply chain constituents on their customer journey, irrespective of budget or financial opportunity for us. We work for the public’s general good and to build a healthier planet.
• Third – our method, our adopted standards, and the open and third-party data sources (Agribalyse, EcoInvent, etc.) behind them are science-backed, making the labels we deliver evidence-based. On top of that, we are now developing a third-party verification system to ensure that we too are also rigorously compared and defended against other approaches.

The role of ecolabels

Our service is simple. We provide agri-food businesses with environmental data and insights on their products, translated into an ecolabel with a letter and colour score, that is based on a full lifecycle analysis of the food product. ​

We work with businesses to delve deeper into that analysis and those insights to aid decision-making on product and supply chain issues, ensuring the LCA process is compliant and the output certifiable. This may be used simply for internal reporting. Equally businesses may wish to go one step further and publicly share the ecolabel, putting it front-of-pack, or online to communicate the tangible data behind the score, and thus respond to the increasing demand for transparency that is expected from consumers.

Each published ecolabel is certified by Foundation Earth as a mark of quality.

The need to share a products’ environmental provenance and impact – or at the very least show a direction of travel to providing that transparency – is becoming more popular, given that 46% of consumers expect brands to take the lead on bringing about sustainable change.

That is why we work with all businesses across the supply chain: with those who are still trying to work out their overall sustainability strategy but unable to disclose it yet, or other businesses with a strong sustainable brand who wish to be compared with others in their food category or industry sector. Others again might have already published legitimate green claims and are now under pressure to scientifically defend them.​

In all scenarios, going through a rigorous ecolabelling process can help each business, no matter where they are on that journey.

Tackling the challenge

Delivering transparency across the entire food system is a challenge for several reasons:

• First, harmonisation. Supply chains are global, and they are complex. Each one differs by actors, location, legislation and the data on each one rarely connects with others, let alone conforms to a common standard, consistent data modelling and defensible methodologies. There are currently over 232 ecolabels and schemes active in the EU that look at different indicators and measure impacts differently. We need to build more harmonised data methods and standards to reduce this fragmented and confusing picture for industry and consumers alike.
• Second, scale: the sheer complexity of supply chains coupled with the increasingly granular level of data captured requires scalable data management platforms, tools and technology, that can interrogate faster and more intelligently than ever before.
• Third, consumers are demonstrating stronger interest and commitment to sustainability, wanting to engage deeper than ever before. It is critical therefore that anyone selling them food is able to provide the insights and supporting data they seek.
• Forth, the food system is increasingly a knowledge system in its own right, where all entities within it must collaborate with others to improve the ability to provide nutritious, cost-effective and ecologically-sound food at scale. Multilateral insights and decisions are becoming more and more important to enable long term resilience.

Environmental impact through LCA

By adopting a full life cycle assessment approach, we put science at the heart of our labels.

We’ve spent the last few years analysing the science across an array of product life cycle data sources, gathering procedures, tools and assessment methods before electing on our direction. ​Our method is founded on a PEF-based methodology comprising 16 impact indicators measured across supply chain stages, from cradle to grave. We provide a highly scientific absolute and comparative assessment between same products at the same stage, between stages, and between different actors operating the same process. And as methods like PEF become even more granular as we progress, those learnings will be continuously integrated into our methodology updates.

Using high quality data

We work with several pre-approved Life Cycle Assessment providers who base their assessment on our approach to provide the retailer, supplier or brand with a grading and certificate per product SKU. ​That score is currently recertified yearly, allowing us not only to closely audit potential changes in a product’s environmental impact, but also allowing businesses to make improvements in their value change and score better the year later.

We also work with businesses and their technology platform partners to ensure this data can be integrated seamlessly into existing ERP, supply chain and cloud analytics systems set up to measure supply chain activity. ​

Finally, we are also pioneering LCA automation to accelerate the adoption of meaningful, defensible environmental impact scores across more products, far cheaper.

Aligning with policy

We’ve seen a lot in the press recently about green claims and greenwashing, and the legislation coming in to enforce sustainability marketing claims. Until very recently, quantifying ‘sustainability’, for example physical or transitional climate risk exposure, carbon reduction, biodiversity loss, deforestation, and soil nutritional density, were not scientifically measurable at scale. But now we can measure those factors based on accepted scientific scenarios and baselines, and use it to back more rigorous action.

Equally, science-backed LCA methods need to align to national and regional policies globally, not just in the country you are HQ’d in. Why? Because policies governing an entire supply chain’s environmental impact will be increasingly defended downstream by the consumer face of the food industry, i.e. the brands and retailers.

Our vision for an optimum method

The method behind our robust lifecycle assessment approach itself encapsulates the key tenets and challenges mentioned above: ​

• A solution that endeavours to be system-wide, based on common standards and a common method.
• The use of primary data for ground truthing, not just secondary data from which to gather further inferences and subjectivity​.
• The ability to measure change. We will eventually get to a point where supply chain environmental impact can be measured at the product SKU level: a crate of apples, a mushroom punnet, or even down to the individual chocolate bar with a high degree of environmental intelligence on the cocoa or sugar in its make up.​ We need to show how positive action has improved a prior rating or score.
• We also need to harmonise and standardiseprotocols across different industry groups, sectors, trading partners and actors in the supply chain​.
• Lastly, it must be scalable, accessible and open to all.

Open source to scale

A few months ago we launched our open source approach and in that time, we have seen a significant uptick in interest from businesses keen to take our core standardised method and sources and iterate on them. In line with our mission to transform food systems for the better, going open source was a key action needed to increase transparency and allow for large uptake globally. For more details on our current open source-based methodology go to https://foundation-earth.net/resources

Who has joined us on our journey?

We have many food brands, retailers traders, associations of all sizes represented in our membership programme spanning UK and Europe, but we’re also now garnering interest in North America. We typically work with procurement, finance, sustainability and marketing teams who are charged with modelling, developing, launching then measuring sustainability initiatives designed to improve the organisation’s bottom or top line.​

But to bring forth the systemic approach desperately needed to enact true change, we are working with partners across science, technology, policy and civil society. One example is our partnership with Fujitsu, who are working with us to enable rapid and scalable tracking and tracing of product-level LCAs for more companies.

Lastly, our independent Science Committee ensures our developments are always science-based – and alongside representatives from European governments, UK brands, academic institutions and research establishments, we are working cross stakeholders to continuously better ourselves and work towards the most accurate and transparent way of communicate the environmental impact of food.

Want to find out more about our work and how you can take on your sustainability journey with us? Get in touch at [email protected]

The post Blog: Food ecolabelling: “the golden thread” for food security and environmental legitimacy appeared first on Foundation Earth.

But awareness is just the first step – how is this being turned into action?  It’s no secret that the sustainability challenge is a difficult one the requires systems change. And while there may be some simpler switches that businesses can make and communicate about – like moving to renewable energies or changing packaging – achieving true sustainability requires a complete review of the way a business operates. Establishing targets and standards can provide a clear framework for all to follow, ensuring that companies are truly achieving sustainability, and not just engaging in greenwashing.

Food ecolabelling, for example, has been around for years, with experts across science, business and civil society striving to develop an optimum and fair way to assess the environmental impact of food. But as we know, there are multiple pathways to tackle a same challenge, and this has led to a proliferation of methods and tools to substantiate sustainability initiatives. At the end of the day, this leaves consumers confused: people are unsure about how accurate the claims are, which source to trust, and ultimately how to have a clear and transparent view over their impact. This opens a huge door for interpretation, benefitting business growth over real impact. Enter the role of standardisation and harmonisation.

The European Commission’s proposal for a Directive on Green Claims, released in March 2022, brings us one step closer to increased transparency and accountability from the food industry, pushing for a set of rules and guidelines to be established that businesses can follow when making environmental claims about their products or services. This, in turn, will:

• Ensure companies cannot make unsubstantiated green claims
• Prevent greenwashing
• Encourage companies to improve their environmental performance and adopt sustainable practices

When it comes to food ecolabelling, it means a step in the right direction to ensure a science-led, robust and common assessment and grading mechanisms that will allow us to compare products across the continent and establish greater credibility.

Whereas there are still many details to clarify in the Proposal – such as a clear implementation calendar, what penalties will be in place for those who do not respect the directive, and who will implement them – Foundation Earth welcomes this first step towards making industry more accountable for their environmental impacts.

Let’s take a look at some of the key highlights of the proposal.

Looking beyond carbon

Becoming “net-zero” has increasingly made its way through business narratives – demonstrating commitment to act on the global objective to reduce carbon emissions and fight climate change. But as much as this is a step in the right direction, one of the emerging challenges is to avoid “carbon tunnel vision” and ensure that we are paying equal importance to other indicators impacting our environment. Biodiversity, water usage, water pollution – to name just a few. Take a bunch of 5 organic bananas, for example, that were run through the Foundation Earth life cycle assessment method: when you look across the value chain, from farming to retail, we see considerable impacts in terms of water usage and water pollution. Accounting for carbon only wouldn’t reflect the true impact of the product to consumers, and would also not uncover intelligence across other indicators to empower businesses to make changes in their value chain.

This has been a key debate in the food ecolabelling field: how to encompass enough indicators to show an accurate impact of a product, at the same time making the information accessible to consumers. Where should we start and where should we stop? At Foundation Earth we have opted to follow the 16 indicators laid out in the EU’s Product Environment Footprint (PEF), providing a holistic view of a product’s environmental footprint, and are happy to see that the EU’s proposal has clearly recognised the need to consider the diversity of environmental impacts.

Ensuring standards for certification and verification

Claiming how well one is doing in terms of sustainability efforts can be very subjective – who are you comparing to, what method are you using to assess and what is the quality of the data you are basing the claim on? Ensuring citizens can understand and trust environmental impact claims requires a level playing field: assessments need to be comparable and avoid subjectivity as much as possible to build credibility. The European Commission is yet to set out specific guidelines on how to standardise environmental impact assessments, but has been clear on the fact that self-claims will be forbidden – hence the importance of third-party, independent verification.

There are over 200 environmental ecolabels out on the European market – making it incredibly difficult to navigate and compare. Furthermore, a lot of these labels are industry-led, which we can all agree brings an added layer of subjectivity. By establishing minimum requirements for transparency and verification, the EU Green Claims Directive can set the tone to eliminate self-assessment, making the food industry truly accountable for their environmental impacts.

Harmonisation as a final objective

As many players race towards developing an optimal solution for food ecolabelling, many debates have surfaced around what metrics and standards should be used to best reflect the complexity of the issue. But a lot of knowledge has already been produced, and there is very little point in re-inventing the wheel. In line with Foundation Earth’s mission to harmonise the way to assess and communicate the environmental impact of food and drink products, the EU Green Claims Directive sets a clear precedent to avoid further proliferation.

By halting the development of new ecolabelling initiatives, a space will be created to take a deeper look into the intelligence we have and build upon it. Expanding the number of ecolabels only leads to greater confusion for consumers and make it difficult for businesses to choose which one to use: the EU Green Claims Directive brings us closer to consolidation and will stimulate research in this area, based on the existing labels that are most the effective. This in turn will lead to a streamlined approach that will bring more consistency and transparency in the market, making it easier for consumers to make informed choices, and for businesses to take concrete action towards sustainability.

The post Blog: Tackling misleading marketing: how the EU’s Green Claims Proposal could spark a new age for ecolabels appeared first on Foundation Earth.

The solution, which will investigate the use of blockchain and Artificial Intelligence, will aim to source and map ecological data in line with the 16 indicators of the EU’s Product Environmental Footprint (PEF). Information collected would cover entire food value chains – from farmers to manufacturers, producers, and retailers – in a safe, secure and democratised way.

Digitalisation has already changed many industries, creating new business models and ways of working. When it comes to food ecolabelling, a blockchain-based solution would have the potential to bring increased transparency, verification, and auditability to the data behind the scores and facilitate the scaling and automation of environmental impact assessments for food products.

“If we want to see ecolabels on thousands of products, we know we must meet the key challenge of scalability, without compromising on the quality of environmental impact assessments. That’s why we are exploring how to use technology to our advantage, by partnering with experts to design a trusted solution that can increase the efficiency and accuracy of data mapping,” said Cliona Howie, CEO at Foundation Earth.

Gathering high quality data has long been a challenge in the agri-food sector. Without which it becomes difficult to truly assess eco impact at individual product level. Creating an automated way to map PEF data would not only reduce time and human resources used in a traditional LCA, but would also increase confidence and trust in the final score on-pack.

Such a solution would also benefit organisations by providing precise intelligence on where improvements can be made in their value chains, helping them optimise their production processes to meet measurable sustainability goals.

The tool would aim to:

• Automatically collect and connect specific environmental data from across the supply chain
• Structure data so that it can be reused by supply chain actors, radically improving the scalability and efficiency of LCA at scale
• Highlight hotspots, produce reports and support decision making tools
• Remove the need for labour intensive manual human analysis
• Make maximum use of direct data
• Interface with other systems
• Be accessible to SMEs as well as larger businesses

“Fujitsu and the Track & Trace Solution Centre are excited to be working with Foundation Earth on this initiative as it very much supports our UVANCE focus and drive where we are connecting people, ideas, and technology to create a more sustainable world,” said Dominik Ferrara, Head of Blockchain UK & Ireland at Fujitsu. “What Foundation Earth are doing in terms of building and cultivating an ecosystem with the likes of Blonk, Sustained, EIT Food and academia is exactly how initiatives like this will not only take off but become the norm in years to come. The fact that they are a not-for-profit organisation and that they act for both the public and social benefit only means that their intentions are only focused for the greater good of this world and a better tomorrow, not for their own financial posture.”

The post Foundation Earth joins forces with Fujitsu to map environmental data in the agri-food sector appeared first on Foundation Earth.

The methodology, which proposes an improved version of the European Commission’s Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) – the closest yet to an agreed standard – marks a huge milestone in the world of ecolabelling, bringing us one step closer to harmonised system that can be used across Europe and beyond.

The new Life Cycle Assessment method, developed in collaboration with Blonk Consultants, DIL German Institute of Food Technologies (Deutsches Institut für Lebensmitteltechnik e.V.) and supported by EIT Food, is going open source to increase transparency and allow for large uptake globally.

The method proposes a robust and data-driven environmental scoring system which allows for the comparison between different food chains producing the same type of food, enabling businesses to transform their food systems to reach sustainability targets, whilst providing consumers with the clear and credible information needed to make more sustainable buying choices through ecolabels.

“As the Chair of the independent Scientific Committee of Foundation Earth I am delighted that a crucial stage in the development of a harmonised approach to the ecolabelling for the food we consume has been reached. Foundation Earth has provided the inspiration, innovation and leadership to reach this juncture,” said  Professor Chris Elliott OBE, chairman of the Foundation Earth scientific committee and one of the UK’s leading food scientists.

This work is the continuation of Foundation Earth’s mission to build more sustainable food systems by gathering critical mass and support under a single ecolabelling scheme from experts, scientists, major industry players, tech giants and consumer research organisations. Over 20 brands have already scored 350+ products with Foundation Earth, demonstrating commitment from the sector to join the environmental movement under this initiative.

“We want to support consumers in making informed, sustainable choices. For Nestlé, having an EU-wide harmonised system to measure the environmental footprint of our products is crucial. Policymakers across Europe should swiftly agree on such an approach to avoid further confusion. Foundation Earth is leading very robust scientific groundwork which needs to inform the technical and political discussions in Europe. Nestlé actively supports these open and collaborative efforts,” said Johannes Weber, European Affairs Manager at Nestlé.

In line with our commitment to continued innovation, further improvements will be made to the method in the months ahead. The method has been welcomed by two of Europe’s leading food scientists and some of the globe’s largest and most recognisable food brands, some of which have been involved in testing and piloting the method over recent months.

This is a particular breakthrough when it comes to ensuring that green claims can be substantiated against the European Green Deal and Circular Economy Action Plan of 2020, enabling businesses to prepare for EU and UK policy aiming to increase environmental transparency.

Improving the current European Product Environmental Footprint method (PEF)

Although widely accepted, the existing PEF system has been associated with some challenges, the two main barriers being:

1. Its inability to accept primary data from specific supply chains – meaning that different food chains producing the same food cannot be compared.
2. Much of the PEF process has not been specifically defined. This means that two PEF analyses from different companies could end up with varying results due to different interpretations of the rules.

The Foundation Earth method addresses these weaknesses and offers substantially improved levels of information over the previous PEF system, providing clear guidance for the delivery of standardised PEF assessments and, through the inclusion of primary data, enabling the comparison of different supply chains producing the same product.

“The European Commission made an important contribution with the development of the Product Environmental Footprint (PEF), but it was not yet ready to enable comparisons between all food categories. The launch of Foundation Earth’s harmonised method is of great importance to take the next steps forward,” said Koen Boone, Director Europe of the Sustainability Consortium at Wageningen University.

The updated method allows for the assessment of the 16 environmental impact indicators under PEF including: Climate change, Ozone depletion, Human toxicity (cancer), Human toxicity (non-cancer), Particulate matter, Ionising radiation, Photochemical ozone formation, Acidification, Eutrophication (terrestrial), Eutrophication (freshwater), Ecotoxicity (freshwater), Eutrophication (marine), Land use, Water use, Resource use (minerals, metals), Resource use (fossils).

The methodology:

• Proposes a harmonised PEF-friendly LCA methodology to calculate the environmental footprint of food products.
• Builds on existing developments, PEFCRs, PEF Guidance, Food Drink Europe guidance.
• Designed to allow for the comparison of grades between different food categories and within the same category.
• Provides guidance on primary data sources required to run the LCA based on the type of food producer.
• Provides guidance on preferred secondary data sources.
• Proposes a simplified approach to the PEF data quality assessment to allow for widespread use.

Download the full press release here.

The post Foundation Earth launches new PEF-friendly method, bringing harmonised food ecolabelling one step closer appeared first on Foundation Earth.

Embarking on this ecolabelling journey is one step further towards Abel & Cole’s mission to provide sustainable food options that help the planet. Undertaking environmental impact assessments on their products not only increases transparency with consumers, but is helping the company identify where improvements can be made along the supply chain.

“We are uncovering intelligence linked to various stages along the value chain,” says Stefanie Sahmel, Head of Sustainability at Abel & Cole. “Would our impact be different if we switch from single use to secondary use packaging? Should we incentivise farmers to switch to reusable crates? All these elements add up when calculating the environmental cost of a product.”

Some of the insights from the Life Cycle Assessment showed, for example, that their avocados from Peru are entirely rain-fed, and that their main mushroom farm generates all of its own power requirements with renewable energy.

For Abel & Cole, it’s also about much more than just innovating within their own business: switching up processes to be more sustainable can inspire entire industries and communities to make environmentally conscious choices.

“The information we uncover and the changes we make to do better can help build a movement: a switch in one of our farmer’s processes might be emulated by others, and we could then see patterns emerging across an entire region, generating even more impact,” adds Stefanie.

This is where we can see the greater value of ecolabelling emerging, acting as means to build positive change in our food systems.

“It’s fantastic to see businesses like Abel & Cole going beyond to show tangible data behind their sustainability initiatives. Scoring such large amounts of products provides their consumers with a wider view of their environmental impact and allows for more product-to-product comparison,” says Greta Delfino, Sustainability Analyst at Foundation Earth.

See the full range of Abel & Cole products scored with Foundation Earth here: https://www.foundation-earth.net/products/?brand=abel-cole

Article photo provided by Abel & Cole.

The post Communicating the environmental impact of Abel & Cole’s organic fresh produce appeared first on Foundation Earth.

We know that to make ecolabelling the new normal and achieve impact we need to gather a critical mass of products scored, that will enable consumers to compare items in their daily shop. An important step towards this is bringing on board large-scale multinational companies that produce a lot of the food products we consume on a regular basis.

The newest addition to Foundation Earth’s portfolio of brands trialling the Foundation Earth method is Coca-Cola in Europe, who will be running a selection of products through our environmental impact scoring method.

Going through an ecolabelling exercise is an important step for businesses to gain intelligence and improve processes so they can meet sustainability targets. The full Life Cycle Assessments (LCA) offered by Foundation Earth enable companies to accurately assess the supply chain of a specific product and identify where changes can be made.

“Joining forces with large multinationals plays an important role in our goal to scale ecolabelling. Constant calls are being put out for businesses to account for their footprint, and a first step is gathering the data that shows where the environmental impacts are, and how they can be reduced,” says Cliona Howie, CEO at Foundation Earth.

“Coca-Cola in Europe is happy to partner with Foundation Earth on this important initiative. It is a topic we have been following closely in recent years, and we are looking forward to working in partnership with Foundation Earth to learn more. We are committed to providing clear and transparent information about our products that help support consumer understanding about environmental impacts and drive healthier and more sustainable choices, and we hope that the results of these trials can better inform the debate around environmental scoring and a harmonised labelling scheme,” says Wouter Vermeulen, Public Policy and Sustainability Director, Europe, the Coca-Cola Company.

Coca-Cola in Europe is one of the many companies working with Foundation Earth to look into their product supply chains and identify science and data-based actions that will help them reach their net-zero goals. For more information on the companies we work with, visit https://www.foundation-earth.net/our-work/

The post Coca-Cola in Europe joins Foundation Earth to assess the environmental impact of a selection of products appeared first on Foundation Earth.