The food and drink industry is the UK’s largest manufacturing sector, and in 2019 was responsible for 165 million tonnes of carbon emissions covering all food and drink consumed or produced in the UK. This equates to about 17% of the UK’s carbon footprint. This places a unique responsibility upon us all across the farm to fork supply chain to think critically about our carbon emissions and how to reduce them.
The good news is that work is already well underway under the Food and Drink Federation (FDF) that has set a Net Zero by 2040 Ambition and at COP26 launches it’s handbook for Net Zero for manufacturing businesses. The FDF is engaging with its stakeholders and members across the entire food and drink supply chain, and through the Food and Drink Sector Council, to coordinate efforts in response to the climate crisis.