Assessing major food companies in Australia on their policies and practices related to environmental sustainability, 2023

Abstract

The private sector, including food manufacturers, retailers, and quick-service restaurants, has an important role to play in reducing the environmental impact of food systems. Monitoring and benchmarking of company actions can identify areas of good practice and contribute to increasing the accountability of the food industry in this area. This study aimed to assess major food companies in Australia on their policies and practices related to environmental sustainability. We conducted the assessment by pilot testing a monitoring framework developed by the global INFORMAS network. The framework was designed to assess the comprehensiveness, specificity and transparency of company policies and practices in 10 domains: ‘overarching environmental sustainability strategy’; ‘packaging’; ‘greenhouse gas emissions'; ‘energy’; ‘water’; ‘biodiversity’; ‘food loss and waste’; ‘environmental compliance’; ‘animal-sourced products'; and ‘relationships with other organisations'. We selected 19 of the most prominent food companies operating in Australia for assessment. Each company was allocated a score (out of 100) using the assessment framework. Company scores ranged from 2 to 58 (median: 31/100). Companies generally had strong commitments in place across several domains, but reporting of their performance associated with those commitments was limited. Companies scored highest in the ‘greenhouse gas emissions' domain (median: 58/100), and lowest in the ‘animal-sourced products' (median: 10/100) and ‘water’ domains (median: 23/100). Overall, the study identified considerable variability in company reporting practices related to environmental sustainability. The findings indicate that food companies in Australia are falling well short of good practice in implementing a comprehensive approach to addressing environmental sustainability.