Comprehensive plan released following COP28’s first Food, Agriculture, and Water Day
Lausanne, Switzerland, 13 December 2023 – Tetra Pak is launching an integrated approach to drive the transition to more secure, sustainable, and resilient food systems,[1] harnessing the company’s leading role in the food processing and packaging industry to effect urgent change. This builds further on the company’s lead in the Global Dairy Processing Task Force, which, as part of the ‘Pathways to Dairy Net Zero’ climate initiative, aims to explore the innovative systems and technologies needed to drive down further greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in dairy processing.
Charles Brand, Executive Vice President Processing Solutions & Equipment, Tetra Pak
Charles Brand, Executive Vice President for Processing Solutions & Equipment, Tetra Pak, comments: “Transforming food systems is crucial for a viable future. Today, these systems are inefficient and unsustainable, responsible for over one-third of GHG emissions,[1] while one-third of food produced is lost or wasted.[2] Food systems are also failing people, with 9% of the world’s population going hungry[3] and 30% experiencing malnutrition.[4] In addition, food value chains are driving deforestation and biodiversity loss, and are estimated to be the second most critical avenue to addressing climate change, behind energy. We cannot phase out food, but we can transform these systems to ensure they are more secure, resilient, and sustainable.”
Tetra Pak has identified four key pathways to accelerate food systems transformation. The company has also established roadmaps and measurable targets for each of these pathways, aligning with the critical transitions for food and land transformation proposed by the Food and Land Use Coalition.[1]
- Enabling the transition towards more sustainable dairy,[1] by addressing the environmental impact of dairy processing while supporting smallholder farmers’ productivity, profitability and livelihoods.
[1] Definition: A food system is a system that embraces all the elements (environment, people, inputs, processes, infrastructure, institutions, markets and trade) and activities that relate to the production, processing, distribution and marketing, preparation and consumption of food and the outputs of these activities, including socio-economic and environmental outcomes. Source: High Level Task Force on Global Food and Nutrition Security (HLTF) (un.org)
[2] Nature Food (vol 2, no- 198-209). Crippa et al. (2021): “Food systems are responsible for a third of global anthropogenic GHG emissions”. https://www.nature.com/articles/s43016-021-00225-9
[4] FAO. The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World. https://www.fao.org/3/cc3017en/cc3017en.pdf (2023).
[5] World Health Organization. Malnutrition. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/malnutrition
[6] Food and Land Use Coalition | World Resources Institute (wri.org)
[7] Definition: Sustainable dairy is defined as a dairy industry that emits less greenhouse emissions by introducing technologies, equipment and best practices in production and processing to safeguard nutrition security and sustain a billion livelihoods for tomorrow, while helping secure a future for us all. https://globaldairyplatform.com/sustainability
