Greenhouse gas emissions – much further than many think

Tönnies contradicts study by the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy

Rheda-Wiedenbrück, 16. December 2021 – The Tönnies Group disagrees with the study by the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP) in Minneapolis. This states that the emissions of the twenty largest European meat and dairy groups exceed the total greenhouse gas emissions of countries such as the Netherlands and Denmark. “The study is only based on estimates, but these do not correspond to the realities,” complains Dr. Gereon Schulze Althoff, Head of Quality Management and Sustainability at Tönnies.

For example, emissions at Tönnies did not increase during the period indicated, but were actually reduced as a result of economies of scale in the context of site acquisitions and mergers. For several years now, the Rheda-Wiedenbrück-based food company has been systematically publishing its sustainability work in line with the Global Reporting Initiative method. In 2020, a 10-year plan for sustainability targets was added with the Agenda t30.

Specifically, the study assumes that emissions at Tönnies alone increased by 30 percent from 2016 to 2018. However, the study authors did not scientifically prove or calculate the emissions, but estimated them based on slaughter figures. Tönnies, for example, acquired the Zur Mühlen Group with six sites in 2017 and grew dynamically throughout the period under review from 2016 to 2018. However, the growth and the acquisition of sites did not lead to an increase in emissions in total. Rather, emissions already existing under other company names were reduced.

Tönnies also sees the fundamental weakness of the methodology in this calculation. Meat companies are supply infrastructures between agriculture and consumers. Scope 3 emissions on farms occur regardless of where the animals are slaughtered and processed. However, no one could seriously consider agriculture without livestock as a goal. Without livestock, even more (petroleum-based) artificial fertilizer would have to be produced to grow crops for food, and without livestock, there is no meaningful use of byproducts of plant-based food production.

Therefore, comparing petroleum and food does not make sense. While petroleum can in principle be replaced by renewable energy, food production cannot and must be considered systemically in its overall context. “Agriculture and meat production are on their way and further along than many think,” Schulze Althoff said. Moreover, emissions in agriculture have been reduced by 20 percent in Germany since 1990, while production volumes have increased.