LCA Food 2012 in Saint Malo, France! - Manifestations et colloques ...

GROUP 6, SESSION B: METHODS, TOOLS, DATABASES 8 th Int. Conference on LCA in the
Agri-Food Sector, 1-4 Oct 2012
164. Get SET, an innovative holistic approach to implement more
sustainable nutrition
Georg Schöner * , Christoph Günther, Cristian Barcan, Kristina Gräper
Global SET Initiative Nutrition & Health, BASF, G-ENL/MS, Corresponding author. E-mail:
georg.schoener@basf.com
Feeding the world 2050 and beyond is a challenge particularly, when it comes to sustainable nutrition. It is
now time for the industry to optimise the sustainability of their products step by step. To succeed, it is necessary
to have a holistic, “cradle-to-grave” approach which involves stakeholders throughout the entire value
chain while focusing on consumer goods. This paper shows how applied science and value chain management
through BASF’s SET Initiative meets those needs.
In principle, today SET is built on three pillars:
1. Hot Spot Analysis, a qualitative assessment tool, which helps identify major concerns and perceptions
related to the sustainability of a product based on structured stakeholder interviews and relevant
publications dealing with the entire value chain.
2. Eco-Efficiency Analysis, a life cycle assessment approach for measuring a product’s environmental
impact from cradle to grave. It includes at least 11 impact categories, such as greenhouse gas emissions,
resource consumption, photochemical ozone formation or land use and transformation. Tradeoffs
between different impact categories can only be overcome by assessing all possible parameters,
not only one aspect such as global warming potential, reflected with a product’s carbon footprint.
The identified impact is then contrasted with the final product’s economic value and reveals the parts
of the value chain that respond most sensitively to greater sustainability.
3. A whole chain traceability program that helps companies to make their supply chain more transparent
– a prerequisite for managing sustainability. Traceability not only helps trace all of the components
that lead up to a final product through the value chain, but also – and more importantly –
makes it possible to follow a tailored plan of action and track the progress made over time.
Multiple projects have been carried out in the food- and feed industry, which show how current and future
sustainability opportunities can be leveraged for everybody’s benefit. Examples for the three pillars mentioned
above are presented from studies on the sustainability optimisation in feed/food value chains. All
stages of a life cycle are considered, for example for the production of pork: all aspects of the feed production
phase, the animal breeding/fattening, meat/carcass processing, distribution, retail display, as well as
consumption and disposal. Using BASF’s SET Initiative, the dynamic and different perceptions of several
supply chain actors are understood. The involvement of suppliers and customers up and down the value
chain enables the producers to counter current hot spots and to drive towards more sustainable nutrition
products. The value chain partners and customers can benefit through a proof of sustainable practices, sustainability
optimisation and product or brand repositioning and differentiation in the market. SET also identifies
potential for product innovation and generates additional brand equity. Along the way, this value adding
partnership program enables the customers to gain a higher reputation in the market as a sustainable acting
business.
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