Hailed as the UK’s lowest-cost, sustainable pig farming organization, Pilgrim’s UK has just released its Sustainability strategy development report, laying out its eco-driven targets in more detail. Pilgrim’s UK has reduced its Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by an impressive 62.5% compared to its 2019 benchmark, the company announced. It has also reduced its Scopes 1, 2 and 3 emissions by 11%.
A leading supplier of higher welfare pork, Pilgrim’s UK is responsible for operations across several hundred farms, eleven UK production sites, 5 fresh processing facilities and 6 added-value processing units. Covering its entire business, Pilgrim’s UK report details its plan to deliver its 2030 Sustainability Strategy. In it, Pilgrim has pledged to achieve net zero operations by 2030 and then across its entire supply chain by 2035.
Calls to reduce emissions
Food systems are responsible for one-third of global GHG emissions, research has found Worldwide food companies are under pressure to create positive, sustainable change and reduce their environmental impact.
The Scope 1 category refers to GHG emissions that a company directly generates, such as running its equipment. Scope 2 describes emissions a company generates indirectly, like electricity or energy to supply said equipment, and is produced on the company’s behalf. Pilgrim’s UK has reduced its GHG emissions by 62.5% compared to its 2019 emissions in these two categories.
Scope 3 is more complex as it usually relates to the emissions associated with a company’s value chain that it becomes indirectly responsible for.“Emissions-wise, Scope 3 is almost always the big one,” accounting firm Deloitte reported
Setting out its sustainability strategy
Pilgrim’s UK’s inaugural report details the company’s progress against its sustainability roadmap and strategy. Pilgrim’s UK’s 2030 Sustainability Strategy and its new report centre around its 5 core pillars: Sustainable farming, sustainable food production, sustainable packaging, sustainable people and community, and sustainable products.
“Pilgrim’s UK have completed a comprehensive Scope 1 & 2 net zero investment plan process to identify all identified projects that could be implemented across our manufacturing sites, modelling for many different future operating scenarios, and then selecting an optimal investment roadmap for each site,” Matt Dight, Head of Sustainability at Pilgrim’s UK told FoodNavigator, addressing what strategies it focuses on to reduce its Scope 1 and 2 emissions.
From that, we’ve been making significant investments towards delivering net zero, having allocated £10 million [€11.62m] in capital expenditure to implement process improvements and operational enhancements since 2022,” Dight added.
In the last year, Pilgrim’s has focused on spending £10 million of its capital on operational and process improvements in its production and processing sites. Implementing what Pilgrim’s shared are “lean manufacturing processes” has helped reduce its overall GHG emissions. Pilgrim’s UK has also expanded its onsite solar PV generation to 4 more sites,
