Climate and nature actions

Paulig aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from its own operations by 80 per cent  

Our ambition is to reduce the GHG emissions from our own operations by 80% and from our value chain by 50% by 2030 (from the 2018 baseline).

• This far, 18% GHG emissions reduction in own operations due to increased sourcing of renewable electricity and improved energy efficiency.
• Our target is to have 100% of our sites CarbonNeutral® certified by the end of 2025. Already seven of our sites have achieved CarbonNeutral® building certificate. 

Based on a screening of the climate impacts of our entire value chain, we know that our own operations constitute only about 3% of Paulig’s total GHG emissions, while most emissions derive from our value chain, most notably linked to the agricultural production of raw materials that we use in our products.

Now, our value chain emission reduction focuses on wheat and coffee. We work with our suppliers and partners to adopt climate-smarter farming practices. For example, we initiated a sustainable farming partnership with Swedish agricultural cooperative Lantmännen. The wheat flour supplied to Paulig, that will cover the annual baking of 400 million Santa Maria tortillas, will hold up to 30% less GHG emissions per unit of volume.

Furthermore, we evaluate emission reduction potentials in coffee origin countries

Nature added to sustainability ambitions

To strengthen protecting biodiversity we added nature as part of our sustainability ambitions. Food production and the cultivation of raw materials consume land, nutrients, and water resources and contributes to eutrophication and soil acidification. To minimise and prevent biodiversity loss in our value chain we will set science-based targets for nature actions. With concrete targets we create a framework and embed biodiversity into our current and future climate initiatives.

Through our climate projects, we have already started collaborating with our partners and suppliers to improve biodiversity by supporting sustainable cultivation methods, regenerative farming and circular economy. 

We will also update our climate targets based on the new SBTi Forest, Land and Agriculture (FLAG) guidance. 

Climate Fund 

In April 2023 we launched a unique Paulig climate fund to accelerate emission reductions in our value chain. Our goal is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from our own operations by 80% and from our value chain by 50% by 2030. With the fund we will strengthen the impact and agility of our climate actions, enhance our innovation capabilities, and accelerate our progress towards our ambitious climate targets. The fund is based on internal carbon price mechanism used as part of our annual budgeting and for 2023 it’s valued at 2.7 million euros.  

We focus on actions that have the biggest value chain climate impact on the company level. The fund is be allocated to projects targeting emissions reductions in wheat and coffee value chains, logistics and our own operations. The focus is to help reduce emissions in raw materials farming, advance regenerative farming methods and improve the carbon neutrality of our operations.  

Climate projects are chosen annually, and they are mostly implemented together with our partners and suppliers. Our selection criteria are based on our company strategy, sustainability approach and science-based climate targets. We emphasise each project’s reduced climate impact potential, innovativeness, cost-efficiency and scalability potential. 

The climate impacts of the projects are measured using relevant carbon accounting standards and progress is followed up regularly. Read more here.

All Paulig production sites to become carbon neutral by the end of 2025

Our ambition is to make all eleven of our production sites in Finland, Sweden, Estonia, UK, Belgium and Spain carbon neutral by the end of 2025. In September 2022, we have achieved CarbonNeutral® building certification for seven of our 11 production sites, and the work continued in 2023.

To make the factories carbon neutral, Paulig has for example invested in energy efficiency, heat recovery and switched to buying biogas, renewable electricity and district heating. With these initiatives, emissions from factories have been cut by 98% since 2014. The remaining emissions have been offset by forest projects. 

Carefully selected, externally verified forest conservation and reforestation projects for offsetting

Paulig aims for all of its production sites to be carbon neutral by the end of 2025. In addition to reducing our emissions, we need to compensate our current unavoidable emissions from own operations to reach carbon neutrality. This means that any remaining greenhouse gas emissions from Paulig's production sites will be offset through funding external climate finance projects. Paulig has also compensated the greenhouse gas emissions for its entire Risenta brand since 2016 and for the Paulig Mundo coffee since 2022. We fund the climate projects through a partner who has carefully evaluated the projects to ensure their compliance with relevant quality criteria such as additionality and permanence. In addition to supporting external climate projects, we are also investing in carbon reduction projects in our supply chain with our supply partners. We want to invest back into our own supply chains to support farmers in implementing and scaling climate-smart practices such as improved nutrient management, cover crops and regenerative agricultural practices. 

Paulig is working with Climate Impact Partners and South Pole as our compensation partners and has chosen third party certified forest conservation and reforestation projects for offsetting the residual emissions: 

• Acre Amazon REDD+, Brasil - Verra VCS (Verified Carbon Standard) and CCBS (The Climate, Community and Biodiversity Standard) verified forest conservation project. 90% of Brazil’s Acre state is forested, but current rates of destruction mean by 2030 this could decline to 65%.  This collection of three Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) projects aims to prevent deforestation across 105,000 hectares of pristine rainforest in the Amazon basin, protecting some of the world’s most biodiverse habitats. With the support of carbon finance, the projects work with communities and local groups to help protect ecosystem services while providing alternative models of economic development which avoid destruction of the forest. Read more here.
• Chocó-Darién Rainforest Conservation REDD+ (Colombia) - Verra VCS (Verified Carbon Standard) and CCBS (The Climate, Community and Biodiversity Standard) verified forest conservation project. The project aims to prevent deforestation across 13,000 hectares through a combination of forest protection and sustainable development activities. Working with 2,000 people across 33 communities, the project reduces community dependence on unsustainable timber extraction and unsustainable agricultural practices. Read more here.
• Community Reforestation (Kenya and Uganda) – Verra VCS and CCBS verified reforestation project. The project organises community-based tree planting initiatives with over 12,000 small groups involving 90,000 farmers in Kenya and Uganda. Under traditional practices, farmers clear trees to increase available agricultural land, which erodes quality by removing nutrients from the soil. Forestry projects such as this combine carbon sequestration with sustainable development, helping to improve community livelihoods through education and training, and create additional sources of income beyond smallholder farming. In addition, carbon finance is paid to farmers for surviving trees. To date, over 15 million trees have been planted are alive, growing and being monitored because of the project. Read more here.
• Rimba Raya Biodiversity Reserve (Indonesia) – Verra VCS and CCBS certified forest conservation project. The Rimba Raya Biodiversity Reserve protects 91,215 hectares of rich, tropical peat swamp forests which are monitored by local rangers as well as by satellite and aerial imagery. The reserve is adjacent to the world-renowned Tanjung Puting National Park and forms a physical buffer zone along the parks eastern border. As well as preserving ecosystem diversity and the habitat of endangered species like the Bornean orangutan, the project reduces emissions by avoiding the planned deforestation of over 47,000 hectares of forests for palm oil production. Read more here.

Paulig aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from its value chain by 50 per cent 

The majority of our greenhouse gas emissions come from our value chain and are related to the raw materials used in the manufacturing of our products. That is why we engage in close cooperation with our raw material suppliers and partners in decreasing the emissions of our value chain. Our goal is to promote sustainable farming practices, look for new raw materials and partners and develop new business models that favour circular economy.  

To drive carbon-neutral agriculture, we initiated a sustainable farming partnership with Swedish agricultural cooperative Lantmännen. The wheat flour supplied to Paulig, that will cover the annual baking of 400 million Santa Maria tortillas, will hold up to 30% less GHG emissions per unit of volume.

Also, Paulig is one of Svensk Kolinlagring’s development partners in a pilot project which aims to achieve certified carbon sequestration by 2023. With carbon sequestration, the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is reduced by sequestering more carbon in farmers’ land than what is emitted.  

Furthermore, we are working in reducing logistics-related emissions by 25% by 2025.

Packaging development continues to be one of the key focus areas for Paulig and our ambition is that, by 2030, all our packages will be recyclable and will be made from renewable or recycled materials. Our first focus is now to develop recyclable packages by 2027.

Furthermore, our target is to halve the food loss in our value chain by 2030.

In June 2022 we launched coffee climate projects in the coffee origin countries to encourage the implementation of climate-smart farming practices. Our focus countries for our own climate projects are Brazil, Colombia and Nicaragua. The aim is to reduce the climate impact of these coffee farms by up to 30% and provide consumers more sustainable coffee choices in the future. Read more here.