Arla Foods expands FarmAhead program to Denmark for improved climate reporting

13 Jun 2024 --- European dairy cooperative Arla Foods is taking its FarmAhead Customer Partnership to Danish markets. The program will include its fresh milk pool of over 200 million kilograms in retail in the country.

The program provides customers in retail and foodservice access to data that can be used in their own ESG reporting and support their Scope 3 climate goals. Customers will now be able to contribute to climate reduction initiatives taking place on Arla Foods’ farmer owners’ farms.

A spokesperson for Arla Foods tells Food Ingredients First that retail customers have climate targets of their own, and dairy constitutes a significant part of their Scope 3, which includes indirect emissions that are not the result of activities from assets owned or controlled by companies. “Many are experiencing an increasing demand for details and data transparency in their ESG-reporting, which will now be available to them.”

Investing in sustainability
Arla Foods is combining various elements of its sustainability work under one technology. The company says its aim to produce high-quality dairy, while reducing the carbon footprint of farming activities remains unchanged.

“But linking sustainability to profitability is key. We have done that with our farmer-owners in our previous model, and now we are partnering with customers. They help us help them, and that creates a win-win situation.”

In 2024, Arla Foods reported cutting nearly one million tons of CO2e between 2021 and 2023. The company is now focusing on its 2030 and 2050 climate targets with customer partnership, more funding and stakeholder collaboration.

“It will allow further investment in and support of the efforts on farms as it is linked to the FarmAhead Incentive, which financially motivates and rewards science-based actions linked to reducing emissions and protecting biodiversity.”

Data-driven program
According to the Arla Foods spokesperson, current databases available to customers are less detailed than the program’s primary reports.

“Access to primary data linked to the products purchased will provide improved transparency and claimable CO2e reductions to our customers’ ESG reporting and enable them to act by the GHG Protocol.”

The cooperative ensures the accuracy of the dataset through FarmAhead Check, eventually producing a specific climate footprint per kg of milk produced. “The data we have is through our FarmAhead Check, one of the world’s largest sets of externally verified data on dairy farming,” the spokesperson adds.

By Anvisha Manral