FrieslandCampina and Danone reduce gas emissions 17%

Published: 27-Jan-2022

Both companies have committed to reaching net zero as one of their climate goals, as well as improving soil health and biodiversity

A three year collaboration between FrieslandCampina and Danone has led to over 17% reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, the companies claim. The reduction has been achieved through FrieslandCampina’s dairy farmers implementing more sustainable farming practices and green energy projects. This is applied for dairy ingredients the company provides to Danone.

The ingredient supplier used the Annual Nutrient Cycling assessment to track progress resulting from the farming practices. This tool is used by almost 10,000 of the company’s dairy farms and gives farm specific insights, such as the size of their carbon footprint.

Both companies have committed to reaching net zero as one of their climate goals, as well as improving soil health and biodiversity. One of the ways to achieve these goals is through regenerative agriculture practices.

Simone Boitelle, Director Global Corporate Affairs FrieslandCampina said: “For over 150 years already, FrieslandCampina believes in cooperation to achieve great results. And this collaboration is yet another great example. Supporting farmers to produce milk in balance with nature, is the key to a more sustainable, climate neutral and nature positive future. I am very proud of our member farmers who make this possible, they deserve the stage for these strong results!”

Yann-Gaël Rio, Danone’s Global Vice-President for Nature & Agriculture, said: “Sustainable dairy farming is a key priority in Danone’s journey to achieving net zero emissions. This partnership demonstrates that by combining our expertise, we can accelerate the adoption of regenerative agriculture practices to help reduce the climate impact of dairy farming. While this is a great step, there is more to be done, and we are looking forward to supporting more farmers in their transition by extending this partnership for an additional three years.”

Depending on the nature of their farm, dairy farmers can take different measures to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. Some examples of the measures taken are harvesting more protein from farmers’ own land, as opposed to sourcing feed from far away, optimising the cows’ diet composition to support their welfare while reducing methane emissions, as well as various green energy measures.

The results from this partnership have encouraged the companies to extend the collaboration for an additional three years. The two companies will continue their efforts together with the goal of reducing GHG emissions resulting from the production of ingredients sourced from FrieslandCampina by over 7%.

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