Cranswick celebrates a significant milestone towards our vision to become the world's most sustainable meat business: 14 of our UK sites are now certified carbon neutral.
SUSTAINABLE INVESTMENT
Our business has worked collaboratively from boardroom to shop floor to reduce its relative Scope 1 and 2 carbon emissions by 18% in the last financial year. To achieve carbon neutrality across our manufacturing portfolio, we have invested in a raft of measures to rapidly reduce emissions across our sites. These include efficiency projects, clean energy investments and waste reduction initiatives.
Support of 11 verified climate mitigation and removal projects around the world offset remaining emissions. These initiatives have been carefully selected by the manufacturing sites and recognise that climate change has no borders. All projects are verified by Verra and Gold Standard to ensure adherence to strict methodologies for quantifying emissions reductions.
WORKING TOWARDS AMBITIOUS SCIENCE BASED TARGETS
Cranswick's action on climate change has been embedded across all areas of the business. We are one of the only UK food manufacturers to have set an approved 1.5 degree aligned Science Based Target (SBTi) across Scope 1 (direct), 2 (power-related) and 3 (indirect) to reduce emissions by 50% across its entire value chain by 2030.
Jim Brisby, Chief Commercial Officer at Cranswick plc, comments on the Carbon Neutral achievement:
"Our ambition is to become the world's most sustainable meat business, but this goal is about action, not just words. It is crucial that all food manufacturers work together to recognise their role in tackling the climate crisis. We have led the way by signing up to Science Based Targets, committing to halving our emissions by 2030 and reaching Net Zero by 2040, but we can't make a difference on our own.
"We will continue to invest in decarbonisation and collaborate across the sector to play our part in the critical transition to a resilient, low-carbon world."
Chris Aldersley, Chief Operating Officer at Cranswick plc, commented:
“Tackling climate change isn't easy. We have made significant changes to the way we operate our business, from how we source our feed, power our sites and reduce our waste. We have a long way to go, but I'm proud of the commitment from all our teams who have embraced climate action with such dedication and helped us reach this first step of carbon neutral manufacturing.”
BUILDING GREEN SKILLS
Cranswick recognise that tackling climate change is everyone's responsibility and have invested in a Climate Leadership upskilling programme for all senior leaders. We now have over 150 CPD certified team members, including all Board members. Net Zero governance teams are in place at every site, helping develop the 'green skills' required to support the Government's target to deliver Net Zero by 2050.
RECOGNITION FROM INVESTORS
The announcement has been positively received. Clive Black, director of Shore Capital commented, "Cranswick has prioritised in-house emissions reductions and by committing to the most ambitious Science Based Target has signalled strong governance and outstanding leadership. The biggest ESG risk I see for companies is that the Boards are setting targets but few, if any of them, will be there to see them through. Cranswick has a clear plan that can be articulated from the boardroom to the shop floor, which can be measured and evidenced. This makes their approach credible for the long term.”
The carbon neutral achievement forms part of Cranswick's Second Nature roadmap to achieve Net Zero greenhouse gas emissions across all operations by 2040, which includes scaling up regenerative agriculture and soil health programmes and achieving carbon neutral farms by 2030.