GNT charters “golden” new course with Sustainability Report 2022

02 May 2022 --- GNT shoots for “climate gold” with its Sustainability Roadmap for 2030, which directly targets the company’s environmental footprint, the measures it takes toward climate goals and reporting greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. One of the key targets is to reduce the company’s environmental footprint for Exberry products by 25%.

The roadmap aims to optimize the company’s environmental and social impacts across global operations. It also sets out GNT’s goal of “coloring food with food.”

“We want to reduce CO2-equivalent emissions at our factories by at least 50% by the end of the decade. We also intend to improve our factories’ energy efficiency by 30% and water efficiency by 20%. Rutger de Kort, sustainability manager, GNT Group tells FoodIngredientsFirst.

“We’ve already made excellent progress towards these targets through the use of filtration, which is helping us to reduce energy use. For instance, a new filter installation has enabled us to achieve a 17% improvement in both yields and energy use in our spirulina process. We also cut water use by 20% in one of our plants using a new filter,” de Kort continues.

Annually GNT produces more than 11,500 metric tons of Exberry Coloring Foods from edible fruit, vegetables, and plants – enough to color over 40 billion servings of food and drink. 

The report features 17 targets:

• Cutting the environmental footprint for Exberry products ranges by 25%.

• Reducing the intensity of factories’ CO2-equivalent emissions by at least 50%.

• Enrolling all current and newly contracted farmers in sustainable agriculture training programs.

Raw material transportation and gas reliance
GNT uses 30 different raw materials across the coloring foods range. About 80% of the raw materials are grown within 200 km of its factories. GNT just expanded its range of EU organic-certified Exberry Coloring Foods with new yellow and green shades made from organic safflower and spirulina.

The company has set the target to reduce this footprint by 25% by 2030, which will require improvements to raw materials and production processes. It is also searching for a more sustainable way to generate heat as it currently uses gas. GNT is looking into alternatives including electrification.

A primary focus for GNT is reducing its reliance on natural gas, which it uses to generate heat for several production processes where evaporation consumes the most energy. In some cases, the company will need to increase the dry matter of its concentrates from 10% to 70% across two evaporation stages.To reach its GHG reduction targets GNT will bring improvements to the processing of its raw materials.  

GNT is working on using filtration to increase dry matter content and reduce the amount of evaporation required. It has achieved a 17% improvement in both yields and energy use in the spirulina process through a new filter installation.

In 2021, a new filter enabled the reduction of water use by 20% at one factory. The company is looking into using an extra filter that could improve water efficiency. 

Biodiversity projects
GNT will introduce several biodiversity projects. Next year, the company will establish annual flower meadows, away from cropland, in some of its Dutch, German and Belgian growing areas to help insects and small mammals thrive. GNT will enhance sites in Mierlo, Heinsberg, and Aachen with bee hotels and more natural green zones.

“In addition to new technologies, we’re using non-technological methods to cut our environmental footprint. One of our key aims for 2030 is to improve the color intensity of our main crops by 30% compared to 2020 levels,” de Kort explains. 

“To do this, we’re constantly screening for new crop varieties with naturally high color levels and scouting for new growing regions with optimal climatic conditions. We also work hard to identify the ideal planting densities and harvesting periods. By maximizing our crops’ color intensity, we can reduce water, fertilizer, and pesticide use as well as transportation requirements,” he says.

Vertical integration
As a result of GNT’s vertical integration, the company will be able to report on GHG for 80% of Exberry Coloring Foods, covering the Greenhouse Gas Protocol Scopes 1, 2 and 3.

The data will provide significant advantages for GNT’s customers, enabling them to calculate the final products’ total environmental footprint.

GNT’s total water footprint amounted to 653,454 cubic meters in 2021. While it remains a large footprint, the overall water consumption per ton of finished product has already been reduced by about 22%. The company aims to maintain this trajectory in the coming years and hopes to set a more challenging target this year.

Total energy per ton of produced material decreased by approximately 16% in 2021 compared to 2020, as did carbon emissions related to production. The total scope 1 and 2 emissions of GNT amounted to 16,000 metric tons of CO2.

By Inga de Jong

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