Climate Action

Taking action on climate change

Landscape of an open green field filled with crops

Climate change poses an urgent threat to our world and to the livelihoods of farmers. Global food production accounts for significant levels of manmade greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change. Whenever forest is cleared to plant crops, carbon-intensive fertilizers are used, or food is transported over land and sea, more emissions are released into the atmosphere.

UN Sustainable Development Goals 13 is all about taking action on climate change. It urges the global community to reduce, mitigate and adapt to the impact of climate change. From introducing Climate-Smart Agricultural Practices and supporting carbon sequestration, to regenerating landscapes and minimizing emissions from processing and transporting goods.

Industrial farming machine working out in the field

Our initiatives to combat climate change include:

Participation in both ofi and sector programs to build smallholder farmer resilience through Climate-Smart Agricultural Practices
Regenerating landscapes with the aim of net positive carbon impact
Monitoring and prohibiting conversion or degradation of critical habitats

Minimizing emissions from farming, processing and transport
Public commitment and reporting via the Science Based Target Initiative and CDP

These are the sector initiatives in which we participate to scale our impact:

Goals and Progress

We report on the goals and targets in the Natural Capital section of our 2020 Annual Report. Updates include:

Progress on our Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions and Science-Based Target implementation pathways
How AtSource provides sophisticated carbon and water footprinting and transformational program opportunities for customers to take action with us
How we use our  Forest Loss Risk Index  and  Olam Farmer Information System (OFIS) to assess risk and tailor sustainable farm management plans for smallholders
How our cocoa team is pioneering Natural Capital accounting with support from the Finance for Sustainability team

Monitoring through AtSource+

AtSource+ allows customers to calculate their total carbon footprint by measuring 28 different metrics across the supply chain, from the farm through to processing and final delivery. We measure the carbon emissions associated with factors like land-use change, fertilizer, electricity and machinery use, and transportation, as well as how much carbon is sequestered in soil and trees.

The metrics we track include carbon emissions (tonnes CO₂-e) related to: Soil and tree carbon sequestration, deforestation over a 20-year period, pesticide and fertilizer production and use, irrigation, processing, and transport to destination.

Data-driven climate action

To address the complexity of tackling Scope 3 emissions which make up the bulk of the food and beverage industry’s carbon footprint, ofi’s climate footprinting experts have developed an award-winning Carbon Scenario Planner (CSP) built into our sustainability management system AtSource.

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.

Many of our customers struggle to access the high-quality and consistent data needed to track carbon fluctuations annually and help determine where to channel resources. So we partnered with Google geo-spatial partner NGIS to develop an AI-powered Carbon Stock Monitoring and Measurement tool. This tool, also accessible on AtSource, allows us to scale our analysis across our global sourcing countries, and help our customers better understand the impact of interventions like agroforestry and shade tree planting on carbon capture and compare these results across different plots of land.

Read ofi news

How ofi is creating actionable pathways to unravel the complexity of decarbonization

FMO – the Dutch Entrepreneurial Development Bank - spoke to Piet van Asten, Head of Sustainable Production Systems at ofi, to discuss our decarbonization approach, achievements, and ambitions.

Increasing Climate Temperatures can have a Significant Impact

Equally, as with some other supply chains in emerging markets, low incomes among smallholder coffee growers can mean that they encroach into forest to grow more coffee to increase yields.

Our progress towards tackling deforestation in cocoa

Forests are vital to sustainable cocoa production. Not only do they help to improve biodiversity and mitigate against climate change, they also help to improve cocoa yields and raise farmer incomes. By improving tree cover, cocoa farmers can increase the yields and life expectancy of their cocoa trees and generate additional income from more diverse crops.

Scenic photo of green forest and waterfall

Producing the most Sustainable Onion in the World

Olam Spices’ dried onion program has been in operation since 1943. Our agricultural team has unparalleled expertise in the industry, boasting a combined 470 years of experience overseeing all aspects of seed breeding, planting, cultivation and harvest.

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