dsm-firmenich and Donau Soja have teamed up to highlight the environmental impact of animal feed and feed ingredients for the animal value chain using the life cycle assessment (LCA) platform Sustell™.
dsm-firmenich, one of the leading innovators in health, nutrition, and beauty, and Donau Soja, an international non-profit organisation supporting sustainable European soya, have announced their partnership to highlight the environmental footprint of animal feeds and feed ingredients using Sustell™, one of the leading LCA platforms for the animal protein value chain.
The impact of eggs, meat, milk and farmed seafood on the environment greatly depends on what animals eat and how they use it. The ecological footprints of various raw materials and ingredients in the feed can vary enormously. Advanced life cycle assessment (LCA) platforms, such as Sustell™, enable the feed and animal protein sectors to precisely measure and improve their sustainability and unlock new sources of revenue, according to the companies.
David Nickell, Vice President of Sustainability & Business Solutions at dsm-firmenich Animal Nutrition & Health, said, “Our commitment to this partnership with Donau Soja will help empower businesses along the value chain to both improve and communicate the sustainability of their operations. Accurate, scalable and credible LCA measurement of a product’s environmental impact from farm to fork is fundamental to unlocking multiple value opportunities such as eco-labelling initiatives of both food and feed, sustainable finance, adherence to the latest sustainability reporting requirements, as well as being a strong business diagnostic to understand where best practice is within the production process.”
Roughly one-third of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions come from food production1, with 10-15% of this coming directly from livestock emissions. Companies along the food value chain are increasingly called upon to measure, report and reduce their environmental footprints because of their sustainability commitments, regulatory requirements, and consumer preferences.
Susanne Fromwald, Senior Advisor and Programme Director at Donau Soja added: “Animal feed accounts for 40 to 60% of the environmental footprint of eggs, meat, milk and farmed fish. Protein sources in animal feed, such as non-certified soybean meal from overseas or even Europe, can be major contributors to the overall greenhouse gas footprint. Donau Soja has conducted several science-based calculations with renowned institutes whose results show the carbon footprint reduction potential of using certified European soya. With Donau Soja certified non-GM sustainable conversion-free European feed we could prove for example a reduction of 42% CO2 emissions per kilogram pork. The partnership with dsm-firmenich, using Sustell™ creates benefits for our Donau Soja members to do more science-based calculations and bring greater transparency to the feed and food industry that empowers more sustainable food production and consumption.”
1Crippa, M., Solazzo, E., Guizzardi, D. et al. Food systems are responsible for a third of global anthropogenic GHG emissions. Nature Food (2021).
