Bühler flags industry imperative to elevate sustainability standards

02 Sep 2019 --- In response to rising concerns about climate change and population growth, Bühler has raised its sustainability targets and is urging members of industry to do the same. The Swiss giant is aiming to reduce energy requirements, water consumption and waste by 50 percent in its customers’ value chains. In addition, Bühler pegs digital solutions and collaboration between companies as the key ingredients to mitigating environmental impact.

Dr. Gro Harlem Brundtland, former Prime Minister of Norway and former Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO), addressed the 800 experts, leaders, scientists and professionals from 500 companies and over 80 countries attending Bühler’s second Networking Days 2019 event. “There is no turning back. The need for private sector engagement is stronger than ever. We cannot solve all the challenges without the resources, the expertise, the technology and brain power of business,” she asserts.

“We are running out of time,” says Stefan Scheiber, CEO of Bühler Group. “That is why we have increased our sustainability goals. Our aim is to reduce energy requirements, water consumption, and waste by 50 percent in our customers’ value chains. No business can do this alone. We need wide scale collaboration from every sector and part of the world.”

Bühler’s Networking Days provide a forum for manufacturers, industry partners, scientists and start-ups to share ideas and collaborate, focusing on the key question: “How can we feed a global population of nearly ten billion people and help fulfill their mobility needs in 2050 while respecting the limits of the planet?”

“Industry must become part of the solution”
The world’s population is predicted to grow to 9.8 billion by 2050, with 70 percent living in urban areas, notes Bühler. The company further stresses that a ballooning population will put a strain on food and transport systems unless fundamental changes are made.

“You cannot produce the food, feed, and fiber that all of us need if we destroy the planet,” says Sunny Verghese, Group CEO of Olam International Limited and Chair of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development. “There has to be an alternative way to do this on a more sustainable basis. Business as usual will not get us there so do not accept the status quo.”

The challenges have accelerated dramatically, stresses Schieber. “The world today is better, in many respects, than ever before. Yet the progress we have made comes at too high a price. We are using nature’s resources faster than our planet’s ecosystems can regenerate. We now have just 10 years to prevent irreversible damage from climate change,” adds Scheiber. . “But today we have the opportunity to make a real difference and shift course. Business has to be part of the solution.”

Digital technology and collaboration are “key ingredients”
A theme throughout the event was the power of digitalization to help meet environmental challenges. Over the past year, digital technologies have been pegged as valuable tools to improve traceability, trust and ultimately shape food supply chains to withstand the predicted challenges of the future.

Within this space, Bühler aims to leverage the capacities of the internet, artificial intelligence and big data. 

“Technology has a huge role to play,” says Roberts. “But it cannot solve these challenges alone. We also need to think and work across value chains and systems. We cannot achieve our targets by working in isolation. Collaboration is no longer an option – it must be a core competence in all businesses.” 

Bühler currently focuses on building networks with industry partners, research institutes, universities, start-ups and not-for-profit organizations to broaden and deepen the knowledge and expertise focused on solving these challenges. The brand has built 29 application and training centers, creating a worldwide network for innovation.

This view was echoed by Stefan Palzer, Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer of Nestlé Global, who notes that Nestlé has launched a start-up accelerator this year, while opening its labs and facilities and its expertise to participating companies, to help them rapidly advance towards the creation of valid prototypes.

Reasons for optimism
Bühler highlights that the combined potential for change embodied by the businesses present at the Bühler Networking Days is enormous. Together they feed four billion people and provide mobility for one billion every day – a powerful lever for change, notes the company. 

“The food of the future could well be grown in the fermentation tank, rather than in the field and ocean. Both disruptive companies and incumbents are investing to address the consumer needs of today and the future. They are developing new technologies using biomanufacturing and digital advances to revolutionize agriculture and increase yields to meet the world’s nutritional needs within the environmental boundaries.”

By Benjamin Ferrer