Organic Report Fall 2021 - Flipbook - Page 24
SC ALING SUSTA INA B ILITY S O LUT I O NS
Organic shows the way to cut emissions to fight climate change
A
ccording to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change, to prevent catastrophic impacts of climate
change, we must limit temperature increases to 1.5˚C
above pre-industrial levels. This requires reaching netzero global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by
2050 — only achievable with rapid transitions in
the worldwide economy.
As the source of most of the world's
emissions, businesses are critical in the battle
against climate change. They are rising to
this challenge by announcing seemingly
ambitious climate targets. However, net-zero
terminologies and targets vary widely.
Moreover, as momentum grows on corporate
climate action, so do scrutiny and consumer
expectations. To effectively address climate change,
companies must create comprehensive climate strategies that
reduce their own operational and value chain GHG emissions
in line with a 1.5˚C pathway.
Addressing value chain emissions is particularly
complicated for food companies, whose agricultural supply
chain is generally responsible for a huge fraction of their value
chain GHG emissions. The food system
accounts for approximately one-quarter
of total global emissions, with land-use
change and agricultural production the
primary drivers within the sector.
Therefore, creating a sustainable food
system is integral to tackling climate
change.
Organic agriculture provides
solutions by reducing both direct and
indirect GHG emissions from
agricultural production while also
acting as a carbon sink through soil
carbon sequestration. Organic Trade
Association members are climate
leaders at the forefront of pioneering
credible strategies to measure these
benefits in organic agricultural supply
chains as part of meeting their GHG
reduction targets. To support this work,
the trade association recently created a
Climate Change Task Force to elevate
the voice of organic in climate policies, advance organic as a
solution, and protect organic from the risk of a changing
climate.
The trade association’s newest council, the Sustainable
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Food Trade Action Council, provides a set of effective tools for
organic businesses to build, measure, and refine their
sustainability programs. Its COMPASS program offers a
variety of proprietary analytic modules designed to
help organic food companies operate sustainably.
One is the Climate Action Management Process
(CAMP), developed in partnership with the
sustainability consulting firm Good Company.
CAMP helps organic food businesses chart a
climate strategy by identifying value chain
climate hotspots and prioritizing key next
steps to mitigate those impacts.
Perhaps most importantly, the CAMP
module educates companies on implementing a
rigorous climate action planning process. It is
essential to inventory baseline operational and value
chain GHG emissions to understand where climate impacts
occur within a company's supply chain and accurately track
progress. Companies should also commit to science-based
emission targets aligned with a 1.5˚C pathway, and establish
interim targets that provide a robust trajectory toward a year
2050 net-zero goal.
Companies should then create an ambitious action plan
designed to achieve these targets with a portfolio of direct
reduction projects identified to address areas of highest
impact and engage their value chain, relying on offsets only
To learn more about business tools that support climate and sustainability goals,
contact Lisa Braun (lbraun@ota.com).
Organic Report • Fall 2021
