Avara Foods unveils ‘more ambitious’ sustainability targets

Avara Foods has submitted new environmental targets to the Science Based Targets Institute, including a 43% cut to Scope 1, 2 and 3 footprints by 2030.

It said its focus and track record on sustainability was a cornerstone of its broader commitment to act responsibly under its ‘For Good’ responsible business agenda.

Avara measured its first full carbon footprint, covering its own operations (Scope 1 and 2) and wider supply chain (Scope 3), in 2019, which became the basis of its first SBTi submission two years later.

Since then, Avara had “consistently achieved reductions ahead of their target trajectory”, helping, in part, to influence its decision to set more ambitious goals this time around.

Progress against previous targets had been “outstanding, through a focus on decarbonisation through energy efficiency, and addressing other ‘hotspots’, like refrigerant use”, the poultry giant said.

Its ultimate target is to reduce energy and industry emissions by 90% for all scopes by 2040, and a 72% reduction of FLAG (or forests, land, and agriculture) emissions.

“We’ve made phenomenal progress on our net zero Journey in recent years,” said CEO Chris Hall. “These strengthened targets is another positive step forward,” he added

“At the outset, the most important task was to get started. From there, we knew we could improve and refine our data and understanding,” said Avara sustainability co-ordinator Lauren Cole. 

“While using a lot of spend-based data was a good starting point, carbon emissions could be affected by a change of supplier, or even inflation, rather than our actual activity – so we always intended to push for improvements. Over time we’ve refined our data so that, today, 95% of what we measure is activity-based, which is a much more accurate reflection of what we do, and makes it easier to produce, deliver and measure the impact of carbon reduction plans.”

Emily Don, head of sustainability, said: “We’ve built a reputation as a business that takes sustainability seriously and that our data is ‘best in class’. By focusing on decarbonisation, we’ve made excellent progress on our journey to Net Zero, and these ambitious targets will keep us at the forefront of industry progress on carbon reduction.”