GNT has published verified data showing that the company has reduced the average carbon footprint of its plant-based Exberry Coloring Foods by 19% within the first year of its sustainability plan.
According to the company, it has become one of the first colouring foods supplier to issue a Greenhouse Gas Verification Statement as it strives to become more sustainable. The statement details GNT’s carbon footprint from 2019 to 2021, as auditor SGS verified the emissions data according to internationally recognised ISO14064 standard which includes emissions from carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide across six reporting categories.
As a result, the company has now provided comprehensive information on Exberry Coloring Foods’ organisational footprint to customers.
As of 2022, GNT announced that it aims to achieve a total of 17 sustainability targets over the course of the decade. These include cutting the company’s environmental footprint for Exberry product ranges by 25% between 2020 and 2030, as well as reducing its factories’ total CO2-equivalent emissions by at least 50%. Its strategy focuses on four pillars: better products, better operations, better agriculture, and better for people.
The company says that new figures show it is making “significant” progress towards these aims. Production volumes increased by double digits between 2020 and 2021 but the company’s overall carbon footprint remained flat. Going by these figures, the average footprint per kilogram of Exberry Coloring Foods decreased by almost a fifth over the course of the year.
“We’re committed to setting new standards on sustainability and the Greenhouse Gas Verification Statement highlights the work we’ve done so far. This external verification for our emissions data enables us to build trust and communicate our efforts in a truly transparent manner,” said Rutger de Kort, Sustainability Manager at GNT Group.
The Greenhouse Gas Verification Statement reflects the company’s total carbon footprint dropping by 3427 metric tonnes to 38,565 between 2019 and 2021, which can be attributed to the use of green electricity at production sites.
The biggest contributors to the total carbon footprint are direct emissions from the use of natural gas and indirect emissions due to the purchase of heat and steam. Emissions related to purchased goods, such as raw materials, ingredients, packaging and waste stream, are all important factors.
“The move to green electricity has delivered major improvements, but we need to go further to achieve our goals. Our main focus now is trying to end our reliance on gas to generate heat and steam,” added Rutger de Kort. “We’re already working on ways to electrify the process, including the use of industrial heat pumps and other new technologies, such as filtration. We’re also using the new data to identify further possibilities to cut our carbon footprint in areas including transportation and purchased goods.”
Exberry Coloring Foods are made from non-GMO fruits, vegetables and plants, and are suitable for a wide range of food and drink applications.
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