How to achieve climate protection in the consumer goods sector
P3 SUSTAINABILTY
This is because the direct link between climate change and greenhouse gas emissions enables political controllability. National and international CO2 budgets form the mathematical basis and the derived CO2 price functions as a climate policy instrument.
+ READ MOREUntil now, the consumer sector has largely been left on the sidelines when it comes to climate policy intervention – that is about to change.
The Fuel Emission Trading Act extends CO2 pricing to the transport and building sectors from 2021. In addition, agriculture in particular is the focus of climate policy activities, which will have a direct impact on many food prices.
The European Commission has also recognized the importance of organic food for science and customers: “Citizens’ expectations are evolving, which is leading to significant changes in the food market. On 20.05.2020 the European Commission adopted the “Farm to Fork Strategy” as part of the New Green Deal.
+ READ MORECompanies in the food industry that are currently adjusting to CO2 pricing will benefit from this in the future. The prerequisites for this are available in the form of standards and technology.
Product carbon footprints can have complex dimensions. A decisive factor is the number of players along the raw material extraction, production, trade and sale to the end consumer. We recommend that retailers first focus on private labels in order to have direct access to the upstream. In relation to the PCF of a specific product, the following applies: first create transparency, then avoid and reduce CO2 emissions and only compensate for the absolutely unavoidable emissions.
Besides the step-by-step procedure and the already mentioned focus on the PRODUCT CARBON FOOTPRINT the following has to be considered:
+ READ MORETAKE ACCOUNT OF PROFITABILITY
Many sustainability initiatives have a positive financial impact in the long term – but not all of them! Initiatives must therefore be examined in advance in terms of costs and benefits. The Sustainability Initiative Index (SII) compares the financial and environmental effectiveness of an initiative.
USING DIGITALISATION
Digitization enables transparency and complexity handling along the entire product life cycle. For example, block chain technology is already used in supply chains. Hyperledger block chains can be used to track not only CO2 emissions but also other sustainability aspects such as working conditions.
In the front-end, apps offer the possibility of easy integration of upstream and downstream actors. P3 has designed an app and developed a prototype that allows every customer to see, optimize and offset the carbon footprint of their purchase.
CREATE CUSTOMER EXPERIENCES
As an essential driver of the sustainability trend, the customer is now being neglected in many areas of sustainability. CO2 transparency enables a new dimension in food purchasing. Example: Gamification approaches allow customers to compete with their friends and supply chain transparency brings consumers and producers closer together.