FDBusiness.com

The food and drink industry, the UK’s largest manufacturing sector, has continued to deliver significant reductions in CO2 emissions while increasing its production, says a new report. The latest Five-fold Environmental Ambition progress report published by the Food and Drink Federation (FDF) reveals that its members have slashed their CO2 emissions by 25% and are well on track to meet their target of 35% by 2020.

The report also highlights that FDF members have helped to reduce product and packaging waste in the supply chain by 6.9%, reduce water use (outside of that embedded in product) by 5.3% and save 163 million HGV road miles. Crucially companies have achieved these reductions while increasing production to meet growing demand.

In 2011, the Five-fold Environmental Ambition, FDF’s flagship environmental programme, also began to address the sector’s environmental impact beyond the factory gates by conducting research into sustainable supply chains, actively raising awareness amongst its members of the importance of biodiversity and ecosystems and developing its ‘Every Last Drop’ guidance on efficient water use for food and drink companies.

“Decoupling environmental impacts from economic growth is key to meeting the sustainability challenges of the future and to our own and global food security,” points out Andrew Kuyk, FDF’s director of sustainability and competitiveness. “We are proud of our progress so far and we look forward to continuing this journey in 2012.”

FDF’s Five-fold Environmental Ambition was launched in 2007 and sets out how the UK’s food and drink manufacturing sector can make a positive difference to the environment across five key areas – CO2 reduction, water efficiency, transport miles and waste and packaging reduction.