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Thursday / November 7. 2024
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First-of-its-kind agreement on sustainability data for farmers, processors, food manufacturers and retail brand owners

dsm-firmenich, the leading innovator in health, nutrition, and beauty and Sustained, a SaaS sustainability company announced the partnership to enable customers to report the farm-to-fork environmental footprint of food products containing animal proteins including eggs, meat, milk and fish.

This agreement, the first of its kind, allows farmers, processors, food manufacturers and retail brand owners to manage and communicate the sustainability of food production by leveraging dsm-firmenich’s Suste service for capturing farm-level specific emissions data and Sustained’s platform to deliver product-level environmental life cycle assessments of consumer food products at scale.

One-third of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions come from food production. Companies along the food value chain are increasingly called upon to measure, report and reduce their environmental footprints because of their sustainability commitments, regulatory requirements and consumer preferences.

Over 70 per cent of consumers now consider sustainability as a primary driver in purchasing decisions creating a pressing need for transparent and reliable data on sustainability across the entire value chain.

First-of-its-kind agreement on sustainability data for farmers,

The first-of-its-kind data highlights biochar’s potential to scale carbon removals as a win-win solution for people and the planet

Ground-breaking new research shows that carbon removal solution biochar can play a significant role in global emissions reductions at the global and national levels. The ancient farming practice can help countries mitigate climate change threats and decarbonise at scale while also adapting to the effects of climate change and unlocking economic and social benefits.

First developed by Indigenous communities in the Amazon thousands of years ago and now a rapidly expanding global industry, biochar is a material created by heating organic materials — such as forestry and crop residues — that would otherwise release emissions when decomposing. By converting these materials into biochar instead, carbon is locked for centuries to millennia. When used as a soil amendment, biochar can improve soil health and increase water and nutrient retention in soils, helping to both mitigate against and adapt to the effects of climate change.

Published in the peer-reviewed journal Biochar and commissioned by the International Biochar Initiative (IBI), the research quantifies biochar’s CDR potential across 155 countries, with net removal potential on a national and global scale, assuming a sustainable supply of no purpose-grown biomass quantities. Currently providing the vast majority of delivered carbon credits, biochar is an affordable, scalable, and readily available solution that, unlike other CDR methods, also provides environmental and social co-benefits like improved soil health leading to increased crop yields.

“This is the first research to quantify the significant role biochar can play in worldwide climate action and carbon removal strategies, at the level of individual countries. To scale biochar to its full potential, we now have a starting point of what is possible at the country level. By considering the climate impact of co-benefits such as fossil fuel displacement, improved crop yields, and healthier soil, we can also go farther, getting a better picture of biochar’s complete climate solution potential,” said Dr Thomas Trabold, co-author and research professor at the Rochester Institute of Technology’s Golisano Institute for Sustainability. 

The report’s consideration of small-emitting countries is particularly significant. Though many small-emitting countries have contributed the least to climate change, they are experiencing its impacts disproportionately, from soil erosion to extreme weather. Biochar offers a circular and sustainable approach to climate change mitigation, giving these countries the opportunity to maximize carbon removal while increasing national and local revenues. It makes agricultural production more sustainable at all scales, from protecting soil security to creating employment opportunities at the community and commercial levels. For farmers facing multiple challenges related to climate change, biochar is a game-changer.

The first-of-its-kind data highlights biochar's potential to

In September, the delegation visited the Department of Food & Public Distribution in New Delhi to learn about fortified rice

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) facilitated a crucial learning visit for a high-level Nigerian delegation to India. India’s rice fortification journey inspired the delegation of government officials from ministries, health, food security and education departments, food regulatory bodies, and the private sector to advocate for mandatory integration of fortified rice in Nigeria’s food-based social safety networks.

This is one of the many delegations on fortified rice that the Government of India has hosted in partnership with WFP.

“This visit provided insights into India’s rice fortification. India’s approach involves strong government leadership that supports public delivery systems such as the Targeted Public Distribution System and other welfare schemes,” said John Uruakpa, Director of the Federal Ministry of Health, Government of Nigeria, who led the delegation.

“It was a pleasure to host the Promoting Rice Fortification in Nigeria (PRiFN) South-South Learning Visit to India. WFP has been partnering with governments at national and state levels, providing technical support, developing pilots, and engaging in social behaviour change campaigns to mainstream fortification in national programmes,” said Elisabeth Faure, Representative and Country Director for WFP in India. “We are confident that the learnings will be adapted to the Nigerian context with support from government, agencies, and companies in India.

In September, the delegation visited the Department of Food & Public Distribution in New Delhi to learn about fortified rice. They met India’s Food Safety Standards Authority and travelled to Odisha to understand the implementation of rice fortification programmes.

In September, the delegation visited the Department