One glass of Horizon Organic whole milk a day for a year is the greenhouse gas equivalent of driving 632 miles. The Danone US owned company aims to be carbon positive by 2025, meaning the same milk amounts to zero miles.
In its bid to be the first US dairy brand that’s carbon positive across its supply chain, the company has just completed its initial benchmarking, the Life Cycle Assessments.
“Time is not on our side when it comes to climate change, and it’s the responsibility of businesses to act with urgency and transparency,” said Deanna Bratter, Head of Sustainable Development at Danone North America.
“We’re now focusing on partnerships and investing in our family farmers to implement carbon reduction projects to meet our ambitious carbon positive by 2025 goal.”
The assessments found a carbon footprint of 5.58 kg CO2e per half-gallon of milk, with CO2e standing for carbon dioxide equivalent. The measure includes other greenhouse gases such as methane and nitrous oxide, which are more potent than carbon dioxide.
It’s released the carbon footprint to help customers understand dairy’s environmental impact
The assessments found two-thirds of greenhouse gas emissions are from on-farm activities such as soil management, enteric fermentation, manure management and milking.
The other one-third of emissions are from manufacturing, transport, packaging, and end-of-life, or waste.
The company says it has released the carbon footprint to help customers better understand dairy’s impact on the environment.
Based on these findings, Horizon Organic has outlined how it will improve emissions. Farmers supplying to the company have already enrolled in the Danone North America Soil Health Initiative, which represents 28,000 acres or 26.4 million gallons of organic milk and more will join.
Currently, 100 per cent of the electricity used by Horizon Organic is derived from renewables through power purchase agreements. The company will accelerate the uptake of low-carbon fuel by supporting the BSRTM Sustainable Fuel Buyers principles.
