BEN & Jerry’s have pledged less wind and more wind farms in a bid to become the world's first carbon neutral ice cream.

The company is investing a minimum of €2.4m over the next five years to cut emissions by 10 per cent from cow to carton.

And it is not just emissions from its factories which it is looking to compensate for.

Dairy farming at the beginning of the supply chain represents 20 per cent of Ben & Jerry’s total impact.

Cows belch and fart methane gas contributing to the greenhouse effect that causes melting ice and loss of habitats.

There are 1.4 billion cows worldwide and each produce approximately 300 grammes of methane a day.

This accounts for 14 per cent of all emissions of the gas. Methane has 23 times the global warming potential of CO2, so reducing emission is important in tackling climate change.

Ben & Jerry’s have run a sustainable dairy initiative, ‘Caring Dairy’ since 2004 that helps balance the needs of cows, farmers and the planet.

To date the company has reduced energy use on the farm by 2% and plans to focus on methane reduction going forward.

Impact

Tackling methane on the farm is a complex process between increasing the fermentable organic matter content (basically increasing energy content) in the feed which leads to less methane production, while at the same time preventing too much of a concentrate increase need as a result, as concentrate production and transport comes with its own CO2 emission impact.

Ben & Jerry’s is pursuing a range of projects from reducing methane production in cows, to building more wind farms. This initiative is part of a long standing campaign by the ethical ice cream makers to ‘Lick Global Warming’. In the words of Ben & Jerry’s co-founder Jerry Greenfield, what’s true for ice cream is equally true for our planet, "If it’s melted, it’s ruined."

Going Climate Neutral means going beyond Carbon Neutral, by also taking into account other greenhouse gasses such as laughing gas (nitrous oxide) and methane. The methodology uses a 3 step approach focused on maximising energy efficiency, moving to renewable energy sources and offsets of unavoidable climate impact by investing in Gold Standard Verified Emission Reduction certificates (VERs) for renewable energy projects such as wind farms, bio-gas or solar projects in the developing world.

To reach its goals, the company has analysed its climate hoofprint, looking at the main areas such as dairy farming; ingredients; factory production; packaging; transport; and freezers with a range of reduction projects across each part of the supply chain.

Barbara van der Hoek, Head of the Climate Programme WWF Netherlands says: "Ben & Jerry’s already leads in this area, but has now embarked on a long-range climate action plan. Their decision to purchase premium Gold Standard VERs is a step forward in the market"

Tweet