February 08 Progress update

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Airfreight, poverty and the planet
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Cast your mind back
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The Headlines

• Local food greener than organic March 2005
• Food miles dont go the distance Mar 2006
• Food miles can mislead Nov 2007

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The facts
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Food production accounts for 18 of UK emissions
Source Food Climate Research Network, work in
progress 2007
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Business context
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Airfreight in MS

• Small number of products
• Fruit, vegetables and flowers
• Choice and quality not available in UK or
  countries nearby
• Sourcing location decisions driven by
  availability and quality of produce
• Small amount of contingency sourcing

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Availability
1 Climate research at the Met Office Hadley Centre
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Plan A
Climate Change
Sustainability
Waste
Health
Fair Deal
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Our carbon footprint
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In Food, we identified 9 key carbon drivers
Packaging
Processing
Primary Protein
Input / Output Ratio
Type of Storage
Primary Produce
Transport
Domestic Cooking
Primary Grain
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Overall Food heatmap
3.3m tonnes of CO2e per year
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Airfreight in context
Protein is the largest area
Processing also makes a significant contribution
Transport and retail operations have smaller
impact
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Within that airfreight has highest impact
CO2e KGs emissions per KG of freighted product

• Airfreight is the most carbon intensive form of
  transport
• Emitted at atmosphere so higher impact
• Less than 1 of all food carried by air but
  accounts for 11 of food transport emissions

Short haul flight 3.79
Short Haul ship 0.0374
Short Haul truck 0.02

Long haul flight 5.53
Long haul ship 0.1497
Long haul truck 0.15
MS food carbon footprint LEK, Carbon Trust
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What options are open to us

• Technology options
• Shift to alternate modes of transport
• Extend British sourcing season
• Source from other developing economies

• Behaviour options
• Stop providing out of season food
• Reducing quality, availability of products after
  weather events

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Airfreight is also growing

• Airfreight grew 140 between 1992 and 20021
• Food is fastest growing air freighted commodity
• As we fly, more it becomes cheaper to fly..a
  viscous circle

• Are we building a carbon intense supply chain for
  the future?
• What impact will climatic changes have on food
  sourcing?
• What impact will increasing fuel prices have ?

1. Soil Association Air freight consultation
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High value agriculture is important for
developing economies

• 83 air freighted organic from countries with
  average income less than 150 a month

40 from countries such as Kenya and Ghana -
average income lt 40 a month

• Average carbon footprint is 0.2 tonnes/person in
  Kenya

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Other issues such as water are increasingly
important
Check food cabinet office report
Source Cabinet Office Strategy Unit review, Jan
2008
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The decisions could be made for us
Source Cabinet Office. Realising Britains
Potential
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Commitments on air freight
20. Reducing air freight investigating and
minimising our use of air freight whilst
balancing the need to trade with developing
countries and provide nutritional choice 24.
Labelling air freighted food
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What are we doing
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Working with suppliers we need to do more

• Understanding extent of airfreight
• Providing maximum value back to community
• Better planning for future

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Extending British Season

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Innovation
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Summary

• Not easy decisions due to uncertainty, lack of
  data and managing trade offs
• Need to work harder on how we communicate such
  trade offs with consumers
• Business needs to move forward even when things
  are murky
• Need to take into account impacts of different
  issues (not just now but in the future)
• Approach may have to change over time

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What might good air freight look like?
Development of growers investing in agriculture
Gold standard airfreight high value add,
environmental and social benefits to local economy
Transparency
Helping countries at risk adapt
Ethical labour
UK paying full environmental cost
UK paying full environmental cost
Managing reductions in sensitive manner