The world's top ten food and beverage companies between them emit more greenhouse gases than Finland, Sweden, Denmark and Norway combined, according to Oxfam Australia.
In its report, Standing on the Sidelines – why food and beverage companies must do more to tackle climate change Oxfam identified the ‘Big 10’ companies as Associated British Foods, Coca-Cola, Danone, General Mills, Kellogg, Mars, Mondelez International, Nestle, PepsiCo and Unilever.
Oxfam, however, singled out Kellogg and General Mills, calling them to up their game on reducing emissions within their supply chains.
Oxfam Australia’s food policy specialist Kelly Dent said that if the top ten food and beverage companies were a single country, they would be the 25th most polluting country in the world.
“The ‘Big 10’ companies could cut their emissions by 80 million tonnes by 2020 – when global emissions need to start reducing in order for the world to stay within a safe climate – which would be the equivalent to taking all Australian cars off the road,” Dent said.
Dent pointed out, however, that some food companies had admitted that climate change was already hurting them financially: Unilever says it now loses $444 million (US $415 million) a year, while General Mills reported losing 62 days of production in the first fiscal quarter of 2014 alone because of extreme weather conditions that are growing worse because of climate change.
Oxfam predicts that the price of key products like Kellogg’s Corn Flakes could rise over the next 15 years – for example, up to 44 per cent in the UK – because of climate change.
“Too many of today’s food and beverage giants are crossing their fingers and hoping that climate change won’t disrupt the food system, imagining someone else will fix it,” Dent said.
“As companies that are deeply exposed to climate impacts, it’s in the interest of food and beverage companies to see a more ambitious national and global response. We are therefore urging them to also speak up for stronger government policies and programs to tackle climate change.”
