Klimato: Climate-Calculations in the Food Industry
See how Klimato, the climate calculation company, is working out the carbon impact of your plate.
The food industry accounts for some 25% of global emissions and is as such one of the industries which most heavily burdens the climate. Scientists and policymakers are increasingly advocating for the potential to reduce emissions through incentives such as meat and dairy tax.
Meanwhile innovative meat and dairy substitutes, spurred by increasing consumer demand for climate-friendly alternatives, are driving change in the industry. One company assisting this change is Klimato.
By leveraging LCA-data on different food products, Klimato offers a digital tool for restaurants to label the climate impact of their food, set climate goals and report on their monthly progress. Launching their services in Sweden last year, assisting large school canteens as well as restaurant chains and cafes. University College London is their first user in the UK.
How much CO2e is on a climate-friendly plate
Interestingly, even in a country with ambitious climate targets, the average Swede’s emissions of about 2 kg of carbon dioxide equivalents per dinner is far too high. According to WWF’s One Planet Plate, the figure should be below 0.5 kg in order to be classified as climate-friendly.
Image courtesy of Klimato
Sustainability reporting to become a new trend
The company strives to promote sustainability reporting. With many large corporations already having these practices integrated into their business models, one could think that sustainability reporting is a widely-accepted concept.
In the EU, the directive of sustainability reporting came into force in 2018. They outlined what measures can be introduced to increase transparency and environmental accountability of the companies in the EU countries.
However, many businesses are still lacking detailed knowledge about science-based sustainability reporting as an effective tool to improve responsible business practices. What are the main advantages of having such science-based sustainability reports?
Setting science-based climate targets
Sustainability reports allow communicating the company’s environmental commitment to its customers and other stakeholders. Moreover, science-based targets are not only helping to prevent the adverse effects of climate change, but are advantageous for companies as well: ambitious targets increase innovation; reduce regulatory uncertainty; strengthen investor confidence and credibility; and improve profitability and competitiveness.
The UN also sends a clear message – setting clear environmental targets matter, and transformational action of the companies will depend on how ambitious their targets for reducing emissions are. Essentially, the two main questions need to be answered: by how much and how quickly do the companies need to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions?
Klimato makes it easy for businesses to stay on track with their sustainability performance: our CO2e reporting system shows the monthly progression and mainly focus on 3 KPIs:
Average CO2e emission per dish
The percentage (%) of climate-friendly dishes sold
Total aggregated emissions
There is a recent positive example of such progression from one of Klimato’s customers, a Swedish food-delivery company Favo: in January, they set a goal together with Klimato to increase their portion of climate-friendly dishes sold to 50% in 2020.
Just 3 months later, the partners could proudly present that Favo is on a good track to hit their climate goal: the proportion of climate-smart dishes below 0.5kg CO2e increased from 26.3% in January to over 40% in both February and March. The “secret“ behind this achievement was the new climate-friendly menu of the company with a variety of plant-based alternatives.
Image courtesy of Klimato.
Klimato helps food companies to set clear climate goals, follow up on them with comprehensive reporting, and to create their own long-term vision of the company’s sustainability performance.