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Origin Green is Ireland’s national food sustainability programme. It is a voluntary programme led by Bord Bia that brings together farmers, food producers, retailers and food service operators with the common goal of sustainable food production. This month we speak with Juan Aguiriano (pictured), Head of Sustainability at Kerry.
As a founding member of Origin Green, how has the programme encouraged sustainable development within Kerry?
At Kerry, we understand that our ambitious sustainability targets, which include reaching over two billion people with sustainable nutrition solutions by 2030 and achieving net zero emissions by 2050, cannot be achieved without industry collaboration.
Under our ‘Beyond the Horizon’ sustainability strategy, we have identified that partnering with leading sustainability programmes such as Origin Green, and co-creating innovative, more sustainable products with our customers, is key to ensuring we are working towards a better planet for our people and society.
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What areas of your plan did you excel in to achieve Gold Membership for 2020?
We recently concluded our three-year Origin Green plan and the group's Towards 2020 programme with a strong performance on carbon intensity. Achieving more than double our original stated target of 21%, we significantly exceeded our goal, with a 45% reduction by year-end.
We are incredibly proud of the progress made to date across our Origin Green sites, and their ongoing contribution to our sustainability commitments. Kerry's current Origin Green plan continues to target ongoing environmental improvements across the six major processing facilities in Ireland as part of broader commitments under our sustainability strategy.
What are the main elements of Kerry’s ‘Beyond the Horizon’ sustainability strategy?
We have set science-based climate targets to reduce our emissions across operations and supply chains to net zero emissions before 2050, with an initial reduction of 33% by 2030. We are taking a circular approach on plastics and waste, with a target for all plastic packaging to be reusable, recyclable, or compostable by 2025.
We will be reducing food losses and waste by 50%, and will re-purpose the remaining waste into useful ingredients. We know we cannot undertake this alone. We are committed to innovate and create solutions with our customers to provide a more sustainable consumer diet.
What are the sustainability issues that companies should look to tackle in 2021?
From the start of 2021, we have just 10 years left to deliver on the promises that have been made to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030 - a Decade of Action left to deliver a world of greater opportunity and prosperity for everyone on a healthy planet. We face an uphill climb, and the pandemic has posed a host of new challenges. Yet at the same time, the pandemic has clarified why the SDGs are so important. This past year crystallised how interconnected our challenges are.
At Kerry, our most significant contribution to the SDGs comes through enabling our customers to improve the healthfulness and nutritional value of their products in a way that does not compromise the environment. Feeding a growing global population, while maintaining human health within a healthy ecosystem, presents a huge challenge. Existing structures and production models cannot easily be transformed. However, many of the levers to make the changes required are already understood.
As part of Kerry’s vision for the next decade, we see the possibility for a world of sustainable nutrition. Through the delivery of our business strategy, encompassing our innovation with partners and the delivery of our sustainability goals, we will bring this vision to life.
To find out more about the Origin Green programme, visit origingreen.ie
