Environment

Challenge: To reduce the environmental impact of animal protein production

Environmental stewardship is a key element of our sustainability strategy. Rather than see manure as a ‘waste’ product, we regard it as a valuable natural resource for generating energy or producing crops to feed our animals and helping to increase the storage of atmospheric carbon in plants and soils.

As a global business we have a significant environmental footprint – operating offices and livestock barns in 23 countries. We use energy to carefully manage the climate in our animal facilities for around  112,000 pigs and 1,800 elite bulls and cows to ensure their welfare and productivity. We also transport livestock, embryos and semen around the world using land and air, and produce animal manures which are valuable ‘renewable’ sources of crop fertilizer.

It’s not simply about making a commitment to reduce our GHG emissions. We have a plan to get there, we call it ‘Delta C’, which enables us to measure and report on our progress.

• Examine and quantify water and waste use to better determine risks and opportunities.
• Pilot project to install electricity sub-metering at a UK site to better assess energy savings and the benefits of solar photovoltaics.
• Transitioning to hybrid and electric vehicles for all new pool vehicles in the UK.
• Continue our investment in renewable energy projects at:
  (i) Bluegrass (US) – anaerobic digestion
  (ii) Aurora (US) – biogas project commission and assess investment opportunities
  (iii) Atlas and Aurora (US) – solar photovoltaics
• Continue to implement an energy efficiency programme, with energy audits in the UK at key facilities and an updated UK energy savings plan.
• Further work on improving emissions data collection and reporting of Scope 3 emissions.