Cultivate sustainability from the ground up

In a move by the Global Coffee Platform (GCP) to advance transparency and sustainability in the coffee value chain, two tiers of Olam International’s sustainability insights platform AtSource – AtSource Entry Verified and AtSource Plus - have been added as new sustainable sourcing schemes to the GCP Reporting on Sustainable Coffee Purchases programme.

olam food ingredients (ofi), a global leader in natural and sustainable ingredients and solutions, Mondelēz International, Partnerships for Forests (P4F) and The Nature Conservancy (TNC) ("the partners") have announced they are scaling up efforts to halt deforestation and restore degraded land in Pará, Brazil, helping to bring 48,000[1] hectares of land under sustainable management by 2023.

AtSource, a revolutionary sustainability insights platform developed by global food and agri-business Olam to provide actionable data for manufacturing and retail customers of the third-party supply chains for products like coffee, cocoa, cashew, cotton, and rice, has just won the 2020 Reuters Responsible Supply Chain Award.

ofi’s Carbon Scenario Planner (CSP), a new digital tool developed to help food and beverage manufacturers model the impact of different scenarios for reducing greenhouse gas emissions has won the 2023 Sustainability Innovation Award at Food Ingredients Europe in Frankfurt. This is the second year in a row that ofi has been awarded this prestigious recognition, following last year’s award for its Cocoa COMPASS sustainability strategy.

The CSP allows ofi to model the outcome of different decarbonization interventions tailored to local contexts, so it can work with its customers to plan and cost out climate actions. It helps ofi's customers tackle the complex and challenging issue of Scope 3 emissions which occur in a company’s value chain and make up the bulk of the food and beverage industry’s carbon footprint.

Dr Christopher Stewart, Global Head of Sustainability at ofi, said: “We're delighted that Food Ingredients Europe has chosen to recognize the progress we’ve made. For our customers, knowing where carbon emissions are coming from in their supply chains is critical to understanding how to reduce them cost-effectively, and meet science-based climate targets. The Carbon Scenario Planner translates ideas into detailed, robustly modelled scenarios that can deliver long-term greenhouse gas reductions.”  

The tool is embedded into ofi’s sustainability management system AtSource, which provides customers with data and insights for use in reporting their environmental, social, and economic impacts. ofi recently used the tool with a global coffee company to whom it supplies Guatemalan coffee beans. It modelled a 32% carbon reduction scenario to help support the customer’s climate commitments, identifying three impactful scenarios: using training for farmers to help them upcycle coffee waste, replacing chemical fertilizer with organic, and providing farmers with semi-mechanized tools to improve yields. 

A sustainable packaging solution created by Club Coffee, part of ofi and one of North America’s largest coffee roasters has been recognized as a “creative, appealing, and practical solution to immediate business and societal needs” , at this year’s Reuters Responsible Business Awards.

AromaPak™ featuring Boardio® technology uses recyclable paper-based packaging made from renewable, high-quality tree fiber from sustainably managed forests, as certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). It was developed to address high volumes of packaging waste from coffee.

Singled out as the year’s most innovative product offering at the Awards, which celebrate the latest progress in sustainable business, the judges agreed: “Club Coffee’s technology is an inspiring solution for a phenomenal problem”. It replaces multilayer bags and cans traditionally used to package coffee beans and grounds that tend to contain plastic or metal. Until now, coffee – even products marketed as sustainable or premium – have been packaged in this way, but those cans and bags can present problems for recyclers, and often end up in landfills.

Up to May 2023, the AromaPak™ packaging solution had achieved:

    ● Carbon reduction: 90% less carbon versus large steel cans.

    ● Reduced plastic: a 50% reduction in plastic vs bags and a 43% reduction vs large cans.

    ● Improved emissions footprint: 90% reduction in transport emissions vs traditional cans. AromaPak™ is incredibly light and can be shipped as flat sheets, meaning 8x fewer trailers are required compared to steel cans.

Commenting on the replicability of the solution, the judges were “most inspired by the potential impact this can have across other food categories and sectors.”