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HomePosts Tagged "Reducing Carbon footprint"
Agrotech, Company News, Sustainability, World

MyCarbonFootprint calculates the CO2 emissions, the product carbon footprint and the share of renewable raw materials according to the respective customer’s purchasing portfolio at BASF.

BASF has released a new digital application designed to help customers gain a better overview of the sustainability status of the product portfolio they purchase from BASF. It also helps customers identify the best BASF solutions to reach their sustainability targets with regard to CO2 reduction and/or use of renewable raw materials. The app called “MyCarbonFootprint” contains data on over 700 selected large volume BASF products, including pharma ingredients, amino resins, butanediol and derivatives, acids, polyalcohols, acetylenics, carbonyl derivatives and amines. It is initially available to certain BASF customers who purchase products included in MyCarbonFootprint. Currently, more than 50 customers are already using the app.

Customized overview for each customer                                                   

MyCarbonFootprint informs customers about the individual cradle-to-gate product carbon footprint (PCF) of the BASF products they purchase.2 The app furthermore indicates the share of renewable raw materials used in the manufacture of these products. The data is presented in a customized way for each customer: Depending on the purchased quantities of a selected product, MyCarbonFootprint calculates the CO2 emissions, the product carbon footprint and the share of renewable raw materials according to the respective customer’s purchasing portfolio at BASF.

Optimizing the carbon footprint and renewable raw material share

With the help of MyCarbonFootprint, customers can determine how adjustments in their purchasing portfolio affect their sustainability status in terms of CO2 emissions and the use of renewable raw materials.

For example, MyCarbonFootprint calculates the potential reduction in CO2 emissions when a product variant with a lower carbon footprint is selected instead of the previously purchased product. MyCarbonFootprint also shows BASF customers various alternatives to increase the proportion of renewable raw materials in the value chain by choosing a suitable product variant.

“We developed MyCarbonFootprint to create the transparency that our customers need to pursue their CO2 emission reduction goals and to select the best sustainable product variants from the BASF portfolio to achieve their desired sustainability positioning,” explains Niels Möller, Global Strategic Marketing, Operating Division Intermediates, BASF. A team lead by Möller invented the innovative IT tool and developed it to market maturity.

BASF portfolio offers various sustainable product variants

MyCarbonFootprint provides an overview of the various sustainable product variants from the BASF portfolio. BASF customers can for example reduce their CO2 emissions by using BASF’s low-PCF products. These products have a significantly reduced product carbon footprint based on a specific customer request or compared to a reference value. The low-PCF portfolio includes, among others, bio-based or biomass balanced products (BMB), which can help customers achieve CO2 emission reductions compared with fossil standard products. In some cases, BASF additionally offers net-zero products, which have a PCF of zero or less than zero.3

Switching to BMB products is also an easier way for customers to increase the share of renewable raw materials in the value chain. In the BMB approach, BASF feeds renewable raw materials into its Verbund in the very first steps of chemical production. A corresponding share of these raw materials is then attributed to specific sales products by means of a certified mass balance method. Certification of BASF’s biomass balanced products is carried out according to recognized standards like REDcert2 or ISCC PLUS4. Being identical in quality and properties to fossil standard products, biomass balanced products are “drop-in” solutions. Customers can use them without having to adapt their existing manufacturing processes.

MyCarbonFootprint calculates the CO2 emissions, the product

Company News, North America, Sustainability

Truterra’s 2022 carbon program will result in more than $4.5 million in payments to participating farmers for nearly 237,000 tonnes of carbon stored in soils.

Truterra, LLC, the sustainability business of Land O’Lakes, Inc., one of America’s largest farmer-owned cooperatives, announced the launch of Truterra™ sustainability services, a comprehensive suite of agronomic and financial resources designed to meet farmers where they are at every stage of their sustainability journey. This launch is part of Truterra’s broader effort to work with more farmers to encourage adoption of regenerative farming practices by working to remove one of the biggest barriers to practice change – fear of lost profitability and productivity of their acres – and develop new offerings that best fit farmers’ needs and support their transitions to more sustainable practices.

Truterra sustainability services focuses on working with farmers to plan, make and maintain sustainability practice changes, including:

Making a plan: The Truterra™ soil health assessment and plan sets quantifiable soil health baselines and provides custom recommendations to improve overall soil health and resiliency. The soil health assessment brings much-needed locally relevant context to soil health measures for farmers to understand more about their soil health status, potential for improvement and to help create a roadmap toward improved soil health. After a successful 2022 pilot across several states including Iowa, Kansas and Missouri, Truterra is expanding the soil health assessment to Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska and Wisconsin. The soil health assessment offering builds on the robust conservation agronomy support already being delivered through Truterra and Winfield United networks of trusted local ag retail advisors and its farmer support team.

Creating a pathway to make change: Truterra’s market access program is an on-ramp for eligible farmers considering adopting new regenerative practices on their fields. Farmers can potentially receive $2/acre to begin building the baseline data required to participate in future carbon program opportunities. In addition, farmers have the opportunity to participate in the WinField United Advanced Acre® Rx prescription plan1 – a component of which provides a warranty to offset part of the risk of this practice change implementation.

Being rewarded for transition: For fields that have made eligible practice changes within the last four years, qualified farmers can potentially earn between $15-$30 per tonne of new carbon stored through Truterra’s 2023 carbon program which is now open for enrolment through February 28. Truterra offers farmers earning potential by paying based on results – carbon stored – rather than a set payment per acre.

Truterra is also working to develop additional opportunities for farmers to be rewarded for their stewardship, such as the USDA-funded Climate SMART (Scaling Mechanisms for Agriculture’s Regenerative Transformation) project to scale production and demand for climate-smart corn, soybean, wheat, cotton and milk production. 

“A journey to sustainability is never a straight line. Working through the farmer cooperative system enables us to take a comprehensive view and deploy targeted support to directly address what farmers and retailers need to best manage risk and maximise natural resources to generate a potential return on investment,” said Tom Ryan, president, Truterra. “Through the launch of our sustainability services approach, Truterra is excited to continue working with ag retailers and farmers in an effort to address cost, risk and knowledge barriers to regenerative agriculture practice adoption. In turn, we can help position them as leaders in emerging market opportunities for carbon removals, climate-smart commodities and other ways to be rewarded for their stewardship while future-proofing their businesses for the long-term.”

Truterra’s 2022 carbon program is expected to pay farmers more than $4.5 million total in cash payments for nearly 237,000 tonnes of carbon stored in soils. The program delivered 220 participating farmers an average payment per participating farmer of $24,842. Full results for the 2022 program will be released in the coming months once all payments have been finalised.

Truterra’s sustainability services are rooted in the Land O’Lakes cooperative network, which touches about 50 percent of all U.S. harvested acres, and work through its agricultural retailer network of trusted advisors to provide farmers better agronomic insights to continuously improve their operations. With Truterra’s work in supporting farmers transition to sustainable practices, WinField United’s scientific approach to crop management and the expertise of local ag retailers, the Land O’Lakes cooperative system is working to help mitigate the risk associated with converting to more climate-smart practices.

Interested farmers can learn more and find the program that is right for them at Truterraag.com/enroll or contact their local Truterra retail partner.

Agreement is required and conditions, restrictions and service fees apply. Percentage goals for the crops’ Approved Yield range from 95–105 percent for corn and 95–100 percent for soybeans. Only available to corn and soybean farmers who enrol a minimum of 250 acres of an individual crop in the program.

Truterra's 2022 carbon program will result in