IRELAND – Dawn Meats, a family-owned meat marketing and supplying company, has announced a £90 million (US$109M) investment into sustainability programs in an attempt to reach zero operational emissions by 2040.

The money is intended to cover four areas; food, farming, environment and society with a short-term goal of reducing scope 1 and scope 2 emissions by 59% as of 2030.

Some of the company’s plans to reduce scope 1 and scope 2 emissions include investing in the acquisition of new technology and infrastructures such as thermal energy generation and better refrigeration systems at its facilities.

Other sustainability schemes include moving to greener packaging and sourcing 100% of its meat from Bord Bia and Red Tractor which are both assured farms with specific certified quality standards in the UK.

The CEO of dawn Meats Naill Browne said, “Addressing climate change is one of the key challenges of our time. Dawn Meats has the opportunity to continue to positively impact the supply chain as well as our communities and environment and a commitment to achieving net zero operational omissions by 2040 which is the culmination of significant progress to date.”

Dawn Meats recently reported a 248,000 tonnes reduction in greenhouse gasses from its 2020 operations and supply chain, while on-farm scope 3 emissions were reduced by 189,00 tonnes.

They also reported a 40% reduction in scope 1 and scope 2 emissions and a 15% reduction in scope 3 for the year ending 2021.

Dawn Meats Group Sustainability Director Gill Higgins said that the company addresses scope 3 emissions in a meaningful way by working with the company’s primary producers and supply chain partners on innovative approaches to food production and packaging.

“We have consistently set ambitious targets when it comes to addressing climate change, which is necessary to face the enormous challenge in front of us.

These emissions are amongst the most difficult to combat, but industry collaboration is vital in working toward net zero.” she said

Niall Browne affirmed that “Our leadership and wider team across Ireland and the UK are fully focused on delivering this goal and while we are proud of our achievements to date, we recognize there is much still to do.”

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