The food industry has a lot riding on, and even more to gain from, adopting practices that help stabilize the climate and support thriving ecosystems. And there is a growing convergence across the industry to get on board.
The stakes are clear: the industry is on the frontlines of the worsening impacts from a warming planet and nature’s decline. Farmers face growing threats, from stronger hurricanes threatening croplands across the Southeast to severe drought and flash flooding forcing herd reductions in West.
But for companies that drive innovation and take a market-leading position on sustainability, there are significant opportunities, ranging from developing cutting-edge products and boosting efficiency to gaining market share and providing more stable and affordable choices for consumers.
As a clear sign of growing momentum, major companies are taking critical steps individually and together, partnering with farmers and researchers to build a more sustainable and resilient agricultural system.
As more plans are rolled out, four critical areas of action we’re seeing in the industry and helping companies make progress on include:
Adopting more sophisticated climate scenario analysis
Food companies are increasingly adopting climate scenario analysis, an approach to assessing risks, along with business opportunities, based on modeling out different temperature scenarios. These forward-looking strategies can help companies determine what operational, supply chain, and market shift or regulatory impacts their businesses could encounter in a warming climate, so they can better manage risk and long-term success. After researching the transition plans of 50 of the largest food companies operating in North America engaged through the Food Emissions 50 initiative, Ceres found 16 companies have published climate scenario analyses as of this March, up from seven in 2024.
News Courtesy: Forbes