Food data experts Nutritics explain two strategies for addressing climate change and how they might look for your food business
In April 2022, the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) gave a stark reminder that greenhouse gas emissions have risen 12% since 2010 and are now higher than at any point in human history. In an urgent call for drastic action, the UN said that the only hope of ensuring a "liveable future" is for humanity to halt the rise of planet-warming carbon emissions in under three years, slashing them almost in half within less than a decade.
With this increased pressure, many businesses are now upping their efforts to implement more sustainable practices and minimise their carbon footprint. If your company is taking its first steps towards net zero carbon, you may have encountered the terms ‘mitigation and adaptation’ in your research. This easy breakdown from Nutritics explains the differences between these two strategies for addressing climate change, with examples of how they might look for your food business.
Adaptation: Addressing the effects of climate change
Adaptation means anticipating the effects of climate change and taking appropriate action to prevent or minimise the resulting damage. Adaptation is specific to both place and context and can vary in scale from national, regional or local to the individual. There are three subcategories:
What does this look like for my business?
Ways to introduce adaptation strategies into your food business include the following:
Mitigation: Addressing the cause of climate change
Mitigation means decreasing the impacts of climate change by preventing or reducing the emission of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. This is achieved either by reducing the sources of these gases (e.g. by using renewable energies rather than fossil fuels) or by creating additional facilities for the storage of these gases (e.g. by increasing the size of forests).
There are four general mitigation strategies available:
What does this look like for my business?
Mitigation strategies for the food industry will vary depending on the size, structure and purpose of the organisation. Some examples of mitigation strategies you can implement in your business are:
For an easy way to incorporate smart sustainability practices throughout your business, check out Foodprint, a brand new, fully automated, easy-to-use carbon footprint scoring, display and reporting system from Nutritics.