Consumer goods giant Unilever has come up with a new tool designed to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions in its supply chain.
Working with the University of Aberdeen, Unilever has developed The Cool Farm Tool – a new greenhouse gas calculator.
The tool enables both supply chain managers and individual farmers to input data they have access to in their daily jobs, and uses this to calculate their total greenhouse gas emissions from fields, inputs, land use and land use change, it said.
“Farmers are then able to see the effect that making small actionable changes to their agricultural methods will have on their overall carbon emissions (such as using a different fertiliser, for example).”
It has been adopted by a wide range of farmers across the world who see its potential in helping them reach sustainability goals – from dairy farmers in the UK to tea producers in India.
It has also been adopted by PepsiCo, Marks and Spencer and Sysco, who are all currently using the tool as part of a multi – company project on agricultural climate mitigation coordinated by the Sustainable Food Lab.
Christof Walter, Unilever’s sustainable agriculture research manager, said: “The Cool Farm Tool uses sophisticated calculation methods to allow our suppliers across the globe to find simple ways to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. Following a successful pilot with hundreds of farmers, we now hope to make the tool an industry standard by sharing it with other companies.”
