Climate Week 2023: Working Together

Last week leaders from business and government gathered in NYC in parallel with UN Week 2023 to discuss strategies on how to mitigate the impact of climate change.

The primary message was clear.

Countries, states, local governments, industries and lenders must commit together to a better future. No organization or institution can address the sustainability challenge alone. The importance of building multi-stakeholder partnerships and commitments to help mobilize resources, build capabilities, and drive innovation cannot be overstated.

Shift from Voluntary to Mandatory

Realizing that change was not happening fast enough, many companies have changed their messaging from voluntary to mandatory reporting of GHG emissions from their suppliers.

Most food companies have realized that the vast majority of their GHG emissions are Scope 3; out of direct control of their own internal operations. Therefore, the only way they can meet their 2030 net 0 emissions targets is to require their suppliers to engage in data measurement and reporting.

Sugaright is currently engaged in Supplier LoCT and Manufacture2030 along with other sustainability platforms that our key customers are using to collect GHG emissions data.

Data is to Be Used for Action

The goal of this data collection is to identify opportunities for create Science Based Targets for GHG emissions reductions.

At Sugaright, because our liquid sugar refining process starts with high quality raw sugar and it does not include evaporation or granulation, our energy data across all refineries confirms that we use only 15% of the energy used in a traditional sugar refinery.

However, as Continuous Improvement is at the core of Sugaright, we are identifying more opportunities for GHG emissions reduction to help our customers meet their Science Based Target goals.

Challenge Breeds Opportunities

Our experience with weekly KPI reporting shows that as we improve processes to help reduce factors such as energy consumption, water use and waste, we have discovered new opportunities to help reduce operating expenses, maximize efficiency, allowing us to offer these savings to customers in our value pricing.

Making progress with sustainability integration is not about having all the answers, but about having a process that can help people understand problems better, align decisions to the core purpose of the organization and create space to experiment with solutions.

A 360 Approach

Integrating sustainability into the core of the business begins with taking a 360-degree view of a company’s operational relationships with people and the planet.

For many of our customers, that meant changing liquid sugar specifications to approve our Sugaright 350 as the ingredient of choice to significantly reduce their carbon footprint.

Last week, no speaker doubted that the impacts of climate change are real, and often those who have the least suffer the most.

Decarbonizing the planet is our responsibility. Not tomorrow. But today.

We are grateful for our stakeholders who help us be better stewards of the earth and we are grateful for our suppliers who support our initiatives as we strive to be a sustainable supplier of liquid sugar to the food industry.