Wednesday, December 4, 2024

Lincolnshire business shines on the international stage with net zero goals

The ambitious net-zero goals of leading potato supplier Branston have been recognised by a pioneering organisation that supports businesses around the world to tackle the climate crisis.

The Science-Based Targets initiative (SBTi) is a corporate climate action strategy that enables companies and financial institutions to develop standards, tools and guidance in leading the way to a net-zero economy

This week, it has approved Branston’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction targets, which encompasses the company’s near-term within the next 5-10 years, net-zero, and forest, land and agriculture (FLAG) targets. This showcases Branston’s alignment with SBTi’s rigorous net-zero standard criteria and near-term target criteria and recommendations.

Jim Windle, CEO of Branston, said: “As a leading produce and added value food business in the UK it is important to us that our ambitious climate targets have been validated by the SBTi. This ensures that our approach is robust, credible, transparent and aligned with acknowledged climate science. These targets represent a key step to developing a thorough climate strategy across all business sectors.”

Branston has committed to reaching overall net zero emissions across the value chain by 2050, with a near term target of 60% in Scope 1 & 2 emissions and 58.8% in scope 3 by 2033. Branston has also committed to an accelerated ambition target of 90% by 2035 for Scope 1 & 2 and for 90% for Scope 3 by 2050, all from a base year of 2021.

Branston’s progress towards net zero includes enhanced energy efficiency and greater use of renewable energy. It has nine photovoltaic (PV) systems across its three sites, which generate around 1.3 GWh energy annually as well as an anaerobic digestion plant that supplies 20% of the Lincoln site’s energy from waste potatoes unfit for human consumption.

Jim added: “Our team has already stepped up to the climate challenge and shown fantastic ingenuity when it comes to making the entire potato supply chain more environmentally friendly – from the field to shop shelves. By closely monitoring our outputs and consistently researching new opportunities for us to integrate better practices, we’re making great progress. There is of course plenty more to be done but with the backing of the SBTi and a clear pathway to get there, we look forward to working with our customers and suppliers in achieving these goals.”

Most recently, Branston has reviewed the opportunities for alternative fuels and is trialling an electric truck within its Scotland fleet and installing electric vehicle charges for staff at all sites. Extensive smart energy monitoring systems are also used to monitor electricity use on all major pieces of equipment to better understand and observe their energy use.

In Scope 3, Branston has been working with growers, the agri-tech community and universities to take carbon out of potato production. This includes low carbon fertilisers, reduced cultivations, alternative farm fuels and novel cold store design – part of a trial that is entering its third year. They’ve been working closely with B-hive Innovations, an agri-tech company which is dedicated to developing high-tech solutions to some of the fresh produce industry’s more complex problems, with a major focus on carbon reduction throughout the supply chain.

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this story on our news site - please take a moment to read this important message:

As you know, our aim is to bring you, the reader, an editorially led news site and magazine but journalism costs money and we rely on advertising, print and digital revenues to help to support them.

With the Covid-19 pandemic having a major impact on our industry as a whole, the advertising revenues we normally receive, which helps us cover the cost of our journalists and this website, have been drastically affected.

As such we need your help. If you can support our news sites/magazines with either a small donation of even £1, or a subscription to our magazine, which costs just £33.60 per year, (inc p&P and mailed direct to your door) your generosity will help us weather the storm and continue in our quest to deliver quality journalism.

As a subscriber, you will have unlimited access to our web site and magazine. You'll also be offered VIP invitations to our events, preferential rates to all our awards and get access to exclusive newsletters and content.

Just click here to subscribe and in the meantime may I wish you the very best.









Latest news

Related news

By continuing to use the site, you agree to the use of cookies. more information

The cookie settings on this website are set to "allow cookies" to give you the best browsing experience possible. If you continue to use this website without changing your cookie settings or you click "Accept" below then you are consenting to this.

Close