Agriculture today is faced with the unique challenge of producing substantially more food and doing so sustainably, to feed a growing population. Recent global reports have highlighted that global food production needs to rise by 70 per cent to meet the projected food demand of the estimated 9 billion global population by 2050.
Climate change resulting in extreme and unpredictable weather patterns such as a growing spate of heat waves, unseasonal rains, excessive droughts and floods presents a serious threat to both the quality and quantity of food available across the world. What can the food manufacturing industry do to mitigate these risks and ensure it can produce the food we need with a lower carbon footprint?
Agro-food manufacturing: the potential to mitigate climate change
Sustainable use of resources will define the future of manufacturing and is already a business imperative for food processing as it is an energy-intensive sector and contributes to GHG emissions through various processes involved in converting farm produce into consumable food items. A wholistic view of the entire supply chain needs to be taken including how we transport raw materials to manufacturing facilities, how we process them and finally how the manufactured products reach the end consumers. Through adoption of green energy sources, advanced manufacturing processes, driving process efficiency and effective supply chain management, we can reduce the carbon footprint of the food processing sector.
Growing global concerns about environmental impact, resource depletion and climate change have been driving the adoption of sustainable practices across agro-food manufacturing. Along with the public sector and civil society, the private sector, through their Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) commitments and investments, play an important role in deploying innovative solutions and resources to help meet the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for sustainability.
Trends in sustainable energy in agro-food manufacturing sector
Ensuring efficient use of energy, and widespread adoption of clean energy sources such as solar and wind to power manufacturing plants can mitigate the environmental impact of the agro-manufacturing sector. For example, the use of renewable power in plant operations can reduce annual CO2 emissions by approximately 3,00,000 tonnes in a calendar year, as revealed in Cargill’s 2023 ESG Report.
Lowering the carbon footprint of agricultural supply chains requires alternative, cleaner fuel sources for trucking, ocean freight, and on-farm machinery. Putting to use more sustainable sources of energy such as biomass-based biodiesel, renewable diesel and waste-based solutions can help reduce the impact of how we move food from farm to fork.
Experts are of the opinion that green hydrogen is an alternative that has the potential to become increasingly vital as an energy carrier. Additionally, advancements in automation, robotics, AI and its applications in manufacturing are also revolutionising the sector, leading to higher productivity and increased cost efficiency.
India’s progress in transitioning to clean fuels
According to the World Economic Forum, due to a heavy reliance on coal as a primary source of fuel, India is currently the world’s third-largest emitter of greenhouse gases emitting around 2.6 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent annually, despite low per capita CO2 emissions. Challenges such as high upfront costs for the installation of renewable energy technologies, as well as infrastructure hurdles including land availability and skilled labour for alternative fuel sources, are hindering the acceleration of India’s use of clean fuels in agro-food manufacturing.
Despite these challenges, India’s manufacturing sector has been making commendable strides towards clean energy across their operations. Against the backdrop of the government’s focus on harnessing the power of renewables, particularly wind and solar, many manufacturing companies are already setting decarbonisation goals with the increased adoption of green energy at their facilities.
To make its operations greener, Cargill has taken many initiatives across its manufacturing operations in India. For example, it has modified and retrofitted the vacuum systems to be powered by electricity at its Kandla edible oil refinery. Moving away from conventional systems to a single boiler has reduced 50 per cent load on coal-powered steam for the entire plant. Consequently, coal consumption has been reduced by 40 per cent, thereby resulting in a 30 per cent reduction in overall GHG emissions of this plant in a year.
Other efforts include meeting almost 95 per cent of the electricity needs of its Davanagere starches and sweeteners plant through biomass fuels and a wind and solar hybrid power park in Karnataka and replacing road transportation with sea freight to move stearin between its Krishnapatnam and Kandla oil refineries which has helped to reduce carbon emissions by 40 per cent.
India on the global climate change mitigation stage
India has a strong global voice on climate action. India joined 130 countries at the 2023 COP28 summit in the UAE and declared the integration of agricultural emissions into our climate action plans. India’s National Green Hydrogen Mission is a groundbreaking initiative which embodies the spirit of innovation and sustainable development. Its goal is to create a robust green hydrogen economy that benefits industries, communities and the environment. At the same time, India is working on building self-reliance in renewable energy production, which will enable nationwide green energy transition.
With a combination of industry stewardship, government leadership and supportive policy environment, India can further scale up its sustainability efforts, achieve its climate change goals and contribute towards the global vision of a greener, carbon-free world.
The author is B2B Commercial Director, Food Solutions South Asia, Cargill