ShareThe “Carbon reduction opportunities for the food chain” workshop at ICCC 2022
The workshop was focused on the solutions brought by the EU project ENOUGH to reduce emissions from the food sector as set by the EU farm to fork strategy. A panel discussion was also held during the event discussing the challenges and needs for the sector transiting to a lower carbon footprint and towards carbon neutrality by 2050.
On April 11, 2022, an online open-access workshop on “Carbon reduction opportunities for the food chain” was successfully held during the 7th IIR conference on sustainability and the cold chain (ICCC 2022). The workshop presented the two innovative concepts brought by the ENOUGH EU project (for the food chain) and the SMARTCHAIN project (for the blue bioeconomy value chain) to reduce emissions from these sectors. The workshop focused mainly on the ENOUGH project that the IIR is taking part in, as the leader for the emissions database and dissemination work packages. The event was chaired by the GCCA which brought together the coordinator (SINTEF Ocean) and project partners from LSBU, IIR, and CNR who provided the audience (81 participants) with information about the emissions baseline from the food sector in Europe, as well as the plan set by ENOUGH to move towards a clean and sustainable food chain sector in Europe. The presentations also highlighted the smart solutions brought by ENOUGH to contribute to achieving the carbon neutrality target of the food industry by 2050 set by the EU farm to fork strategy.
Presentations were followed by a brainstorming panel discussion gathering industrial and governmental experts from Danfoss, BEIS (UK), ASDA, and the Cold Chain Federation thoroughly discussed the different challenges encountered by the food sector to meet the net-zero goal. The lack of data (qualified as commercially sensitive) from the sector is one of the major limiting aspects to establish a clear picture of the related emissions. The panellists therefore highlighted the urgent need for the industry to share their data and establish a collaborative approach/platform to combine fragmented data across all sectors making use of the actual advances such as digitalization, remote monitoring…. The panellists also emphasized the role of thermal integration and renewables to increase energy efficiency with reduced emissions. An energy plan considering all the cold chain links will need to be established to support the integration approach rather than acting separately on the cooling equipment. The impact of e-commerce because of the covid pandemic on the carbon neutrality of the food chain was also debated. Explore more about this event here.
Written by: Dr-Eng. Yosr Allouche (IIR head of projects)