Biggest Food Companies Struggle to Lower Their Greenhouse Gas Emissions

"A new analysis finds that companies relying on agricultural commodities are making some progress, but decarbonizing the food system is proving difficult."

"Some of the country’s biggest food companies are making a small dent in their greenhouse gas emissions, but most are failing to make substantial and critical reductions, even as consumers and government regulators are pushing harder for them to do so.

The investor advocacy group Ceres has tracked whether the 50 largest North American food and agriculture companies have set targets for disclosing and lowering their emissions. In a new report released this week, Ceres analyzed whether setting those targets actually resulted in lower emissions.

“This is the first time we, or really any organization that we know of, has assessed whether company emissions in this sector are actually decreasing,” said Meryl Richards, a program director at Ceres who works with food and beverage companies.

Ceres’ analysis says the answer is yes—sort of."

Georgina Gustin reports for Inside Climate News September 21, 2024.

Source: Inside Climate News, 09/25/2024