Primary food processors are a crucial element of the agri-food chain. Linking farmers to markets, primary food processors turn agricultural crops into the ingredients necessary to produce the plant-based food consumed by millions of EU citizens every day.

These ingredients are central to the EU’s food security: flour, sugar, starch, vegetable oils, protein meal, cocoa, and vegetable proteins are to a large extent staple foodstuffs. Russia’s aggression in Ukraine has highlighted how severely disruptions to the availability of some of these ingredients can impact European citizens.

Many of our production processes are energy intensive, requiring large volumes of heat and electricity. Over the years our industries have worked to lower our environmental footprints, doing our part to make our food system more sustainable, while continuing to deliver the plant-based products vital to our customers.

More needs to be done, no doubt about it, if we are to reach climate neutrality. In the following paragraphs, we want to outline some of the concrete steps our industries can take to get there by 2050.

First: energy efficiency

The least emitting source of energy is that which is not used. By reducing the amount of energy required to operate our facilities, primary food processors can significantly lower carbon emissions.

A major project over the recent decades has been the installation of Combined Heat and Power plants, which have efficiency rates of over 90% (over twice the efficiency of power/heat-only systems). Other energy-saving technologies will also play a role. Heat recovery makes use of waste heat from the energy installation for other processes such as the drying of residues for storage, transport and subsequent use as a component of animal feed. Digitalised energy management systems will harness artificial intelligence to improve energetic performance.

Renewable energy

The energy that cannot be saved must be made renewable. For this, primary food processors are able to benefit from the residues generated during the processing of the agricultural raw materials we buy. Soybean hulls, sunflower husks, beet pulp, potato pulp and the biomass fraction of processing wastewater can all be used to produce energy (heat and power) to drive factory processes. These feedstocks can be used to make both solid and gaseous biomass fuels that can be blended with, and eventually substitute, fossil fuels. The current and revised Renewable Energy Directives set tough but workable conditions to ensure that this energy is sustainable and therefore counts as renewable.

Many primary food processors are installing solar panels and wind turbines on-site to supplement existing electricity supplies. Sectors that are reliant on electricity only, such as flour and cocoa, are signing contracts with renewable electricity providers to decarbonise their scope 2 emissions.

Scope 3 emissions

Further up the supply chain primary food processors are working with farmers to promote sustainable agricultural practices. This includes encouraging farmers to use methods that minimise carbon emissions, by for example paying bonuses to farmers that have signed up to sustainable agriculture certification initiatives.

Primary food processors are also working to reduce their carbon footprint by reducing transport and logistics emissions. This can mean using sustainable bioethanol and biogas to power the trucks that transport the agricultural raw materials from field to factory and the finished ingredients to secondary processors and retailers. Or electric vehicles, including ships, which benefit from high efficiency and zero tailpipe emissions. Our carbon footprint can be further reduced by using high-capacity trucks to increase transport efficiency. Increasing the maximum weight limits of trucks from 40 to 48 tonnes reduces fuel use by 5-10% on average, and with it transport emissions by the same percentage. In Germany, Poland, Spain and many other EU Member States, however, it is still not permitted to transport more than 40 tonnes of material per consignment. And transporting consignments of more than 40 tonnes across EU borders is currently banned by EU legislation, although a review of this provision is underway.

What we need

Primary food processors will be critical in the overall decarbonisation of the food system. By adopting innovative, energy-saving technologies, transitioning to renewable energy sources, promoting sustainable agriculture, and optimising supply chains, we are already working on significantly reducing our carbon footprint and contribute to a more sustainable future.

Our sectors are thinking hard about the tools and policies needed to get us to net zero. A number of PFP sectors have already published, or are actively working on, decarbonisation roadmaps and strategies that outline paths forward to remove emissions most effectively.

But we cannot do it alone. Public financial and policy support will be essential, and we need a strategic approach to the transition of our processing industries.

Many of the investments required are substantial. They can also be high-risk, especially when it comes to campaign-based industries that only operate part of the year, such as sugar and potato starch. These require support. The Temporary Crisis and Transition Framework is a step in the right direction, but it needs to be strengthened to unlock the full range of national funding possibilities for our sectors. EU-funding opportunities, such as the ETS Innovation Fund, are currently too small and specific.

On the policy side, the revised Energy Taxation Directive must not result in an increase in the taxation of renewable biomass fuels, as foreseen by the European Commission’s proposal. Ideally it should exempt the energetic self-use of biomass residues from taxation altogether. Legislation on carbon removals should incentivise the installation of carbon capture and storage in conjunction with bioenergy. And the right import policies are needed to ensure EU primary food processing is not displaced by imported products that are not subject to the same ambitious climate policies as here in Europe.

Join us at our EU Sustainable Energy Day event on 12 June at 16:00 to discuss. Register here!

• PFP is composed of:
• European Committee of Sugar Manufacturers (CEFS)
• European Cocoa Association (ECA)
• European Flour Milling Association (European Flour Millers)
• European Starch Industry Association (Starch Europe)
• European Vegetable Protein Association (EUVEPRO)
• European Vegetable Oil and Proteinmeal Industry (FEDIOL)