Westfalia Fruit Group achieves carbon neutral standard for business units

Multinational avocado marketer Westfalia Fruit Group has achieved the One Carbon World Carbon Neutral International Standard for 15 of its businesses for 2020, according to a news release.

As part of this project, Westfalia Fruit calculated its footprint for 2020 with the support of One Carbon World, according to the release.

 Westfalia Fruit in Peru, Westfalia Colombia, Westfalia Fruit Marketing in South Africa and Westfalia Fruit BV in the Netherlands have also achieved carbon neutrality status for their scope 1 & 2 emissions as well as certification under the One Carbon World Carbon Neutral International Standard, the release said. The group is a carbon footprint verification organization and a recognized resource partner in the UN’s Climate Neutral Now initiative.

“As part of our ongoing commitment to the environment we work towards the wellbeing of the planet and are focused on climate change mitigation,” Johnathan Sutton, group safety and environment executive at Westfalia Fruit International, said in the release. “We are proud to receive this certification which is a step on the road to our long-term target to be ‘lifetime carbon neutral’ by 2049. We seek ways to continually improve our environmental performance and operate in a responsible manner, by focusing on priorities such as reducing waste and making reductions in our carbon emissions.”

In 2021, Westfalia Fruit made significant progress towards its sustainability targets: reducing the company’s carbon footprint per kilogram of fruit by 5%, waste to landfill by almost 9%, liquid fuel used by 26% and electricity usage by 4%, according to the release. The company also increased recycled waste by 28%, water use efficiency by 14% and own electricity generation by 50%.

The company has pioneered a low-flow drip irrigation technique that saves a significant volume of the water used to grow the crop, while also increasing the output and economic value of the fruit, the release said. That move will bring an estimated 50% efficiency boost in farms where it is implemented, the release said.

For Westfalia Fruit’s GHG emissions that can’t currently be avoided, the company compensated with emissions reductions (carbon credits) certified by VERRA, through afforestation projects in South America that are converting degraded grasslands into forest plantations, the release said.

Westfalia Fruit UK also achieved a carbon neutral certification under Carbon Trust, an independent certification body for carbon footprints with an internationally recognized carbon neutral standard, according to the release.