Food & Beverage Asia February/March 2024

MARKET INSIGHTS
through collective effort, removing it
entirely would be a bigger question.
“I think we're a long way from even being
able to solve for that, but it doesn't mean that
progress can't be made along that challenge.
By starting to invest in understanding and
aligning of data needs, how we can reasonably
collect those data needs, what we are choosing
to invest in and support as purchasers, both
for the producer, the investments and the
carbon biodiversity benefits that agriculture
can deliver, we can get a long way.
“We don't want to let perfect be the
enemy of good – instead, we need to start
making those investments, investing in this
transition plan, demonstrating how we're
going to get progress and that's good
transition that benefit farmers as well.”
A GUIDING HAND
At the New York Climate Week, which was
held from 17-24 Dec, WBCSD launched a
series of nature positive tools and guidance
that could support sustainable food
transformation and a circular economy. As
a roadmap, these guides provide clarity on
ambitious but clear material targets that
food companies in the agri-food sector
can apply, and how they can be in line
with science. And with the SBTN guidance
coming forward, the guidance also sheds
like on transition plans and a move towards
disclosure, particular for legal financial
disclosure – of which WBCSD partnered with
TNFD (Taskforce on Nature-related Financial
Disclosures) pilots specific for the agriculture.
“All of this guidance is linked into that sector
roadmap guidance that we provided for
nature positive journey. With this, steps are
to be taken and understood. The guidance
follows the journey that completes our
inroad for climate by starting with what is
material, where are the opportunities and
the risk, and what is the work to be done
to get to deliver high quality exposure.”
In addition to providing guidance, WBCSD
has also hosted the Partnership for Carbon
Transparency (PACT). Most recently,
PACT released the first set of technical
specifications for the standardised exchange
of carbon emissions data. The specifications
will, for the first time, allow different
emissions and accounting tech solutions
to connect to and understand each other –
making it easier for businesses to access data.
”PACT is an amazing tool when it comes
to data sharing cross value chains. That
is what it is designed to do. Like financial
data, sustainability and carbon data
has to be able to be transferred across
systems in a way that is clear, and PACT
has already made tremendous progress
on this journey for several sectors.
“As we start to look into what is going to
be required for a PACT solution to if we
have a solid data exchange across value
chain agriculture, we've identified that
there is actually work to be done before
that data can be exchanged and agreeing
what is the way of gathering, standardising
data and capturing to report data from an
agriculture-based supply chain. That goes
back to the start of our conversation, where
some of that work still needs to be agreed.”
AN ACTIVE STEP FORWARD
The urgency of the climate crisis and its impact
has meant that food producers can no longer
play a passive role in introducing measures
safeguarding the future of the planet. More
than merely reducing emissions and electricity,
manufacturers should also understand
the diverse and interconnect nature of
the global food system, and approach the
issue from an intersectional perspective.
Holdorf concurred: “By considering the
benefits from a health and wellness
standpoint that food producers can drive
through their portfolios and decision-making,
and how they can drive these renewable
procurement impacts through the types of
ingredients they are sourcing, as well as the
diversity of these ingredients to broaden diets
for consumers; and align behind the types of
data and transition and support plan back into
the agricultural communities upon which they
defend, there is an amazing and beneficial
impact to be had. Each company has its
own specific arena that it can contribute.”
And what about producers who might
still be hesitant after all this time about
taking that step forward to meeting the
tremendous challenges that will be facing
the industry and the food system?
“Action is not only possible, but actually
very necessary to continuous service. Every
company needs to assess its enterprise risk
management and understand how resilient,
medium- and long-term performance looks
like. Understanding sourcing footprints,
drawing connections between climate and
nature related impacts to those sourcing
footprints is often a first step for most
companies. But from a food sector standpoint,
there are also opportunities: because the
ability to engage farmers and tell this story
and generate positive outcomes is something
that's usually very compelling for the people.
“People want to know where their food comes
from. It is an incredibly personal decision, that
we choose to feed ourselves, our families
and our loved ones,” she concluded. FBA
FOOD & BEVERAGE ASIA • FEBRUARY / MARCH 2024 11