UK – Arla Foods’ UK division has entered into commercial agreements with several prominent retailers aiming to reduce carbon emissions in the milk supply chain.
Asda, Morrisons, Aldi, and Starbucks are among the retailers who have signed up for Arla UK’s Customer Sustainability Program (CSP).
Under the CSP, these retailers will invest additional funds in Arla’s efforts to reduce emissions on dairy farms, providing them with the opportunity to reduce their Scope 3 emissions more rapidly and enhance the accuracy of their reporting.
Meanwhile, Arla has already pledged €500 million annually to reward and motivate farmers to lower emissions.
These CSP partnerships will encompass one billion litres of milk from Arla’s farmer-owners who have enrolled in the co-op’s climate check data program and its sustainability incentive model, with the aim of making progress toward shared climate targets.
Peter Giørtz-Carlsen, the COO and executive vice president for Arla Foods Europe, emphasized the importance of reducing Scope 3 emissions and the value it brings to customers.
The CSP will run projects with customers and align Arla farmers to reduce on-farm emissions through research and innovations in areas like feed additives, herd genetics, biodiversity, and fertilizer usage.
He highlighted that for some retail and food service customers, emissions from dairy constitute a significant part of their Scope 3 emissions.
In return for their investment through the CSP, Arla’s customers will have access to on-farm R&D projects and on-site data related to the CO2 footprint per kilogram of milk produced, along with claimable carbon emissions reductions.
Arla will collaborate with participating customers and align Arla farmers to research and test innovations in areas such as feed additives, herd genetics, biodiversity, and fertilizer use to reduce on-farm emissions.
Arla’s CSP is also set to be introduced to retail and food service customers across its core European markets in 2024.
These partnerships capitalize on Arla’s on-farm climate data, focusing on reducing Scope 3 emissions and enhancing reporting accuracy.
Arla aims to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions at the farm level by 30% by 2030. The company has already more than doubled its decarbonization reduction goal from 30% to 63% across its operations by 2030, as part of science-based targets that support a 2050 net-zero vision.
