Assuring a Sustainable Supply of Cane Sugar Through Certifications

Certification schemes such as Bonsucro and Fairtrade offer the most efficient method of assuring a long-term supply of sustainable cane sugar. CSC Sugaright has chosen these platforms to meet the requests of food companies who require certified sugar and who hold sustainability as a core value.

When our customers request certified sugar, through our Mass Balance Chain of Custody certifications, we look to our raw sugar supply chain and preferentially buy from mills who hold Bonsucro Production Standard or Fairtrade International certifications The greater the demand, the greater the % of certified sugar enters our refineries, and the greater the opportunity for change in the global sugar cane sector.

This methodology has the advantage of allowing us to leverage our sustainability efforts knowing that these mills have third party verification of their sustainability claims. Additionally, the standard itself offers mills a Bonsucro calculator to measure baseline and gaps, and a guideline for good operational practice.

And what is the impact of these initiatives?

Recently, Bonsucro has announced two initiatives to demonstrate how members’ investment and involvement produce clear outcomes.

Bonsucro Impact Fund: Giving Back

The Bonsucro Impact Fund supports projects that address critical sustainability challenges in the sugarcane sector. The Fund offers their members the chance to apply for thematic grants for initiatives and projects that catalyze sustainable sugarcane production. Additionally, the projects must be collaborative, innovative and be able to be scaled up or replicated in other places.

This year’s recipients focused on Climate Change, Water Stewardship and Promoting Sustainable Sugarcane Production Among Smallholder Farmers.

Science-Based Targets in Sugarcane: Reducing GHG Emissions

A growing number of companies have made commitments to net-zero emissions and to supporting the Paris Agreement on climate change. Many have set credible targets for reducing their greenhouse gas emissions following the guidance of the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), a partnership between CDP, the United Nations Global Compact, World Resources Institute and WWF.

This project will eventually offer the opportunity for buyers of Bonsucro Certified Sugar to tie their purchases directly to reduction in GHG emissions. Though in the beginning stages; the goal is to deliver a GHG mitigation pathway for sugarcane via data collection and targets for reducing GHG emissions.

CSC Sugar and Sugaright: Changing the way you think about sugar from farm through factory.