Grupo Nutresa, working jointly with the consulting firm Ecoacciones, consolidated the methodology for the analysis of financial risk derived from climate change. The methodology was first aligned with Grupo Nutresa’s Comprehensive Risk Management methodology, and other processes such as “The climate change risk management matrix: a process for assessing impacts, adaptation, risk and vulnerability,” an initiative devised by government of the state of Queensland, Australia, and the recommendations of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosure (TCFD).
As a result of this activity, the Climate Resilience Strategy for Grupo Nutresa was created and the main risks and opportunities related to climate change that may affect the Organization’s ability to generate value were identified. Additionally, the Climate Action Plan was formulated in order to establish actions with adaptation approaches based on infrastructure, technology or nature, mitigation, science and technology.
In the analysis, the Company evaluated fifteen climatic variables for Colombia. The risk assessment showed scores ranging from acceptable to moderate. The risk level result for the flooding increase variable was “important risk,” since it may entail restrictions to the access to supplies or the marketing of products due to damaged roads, damage to crops and/or plantations, increased cultivation costs, damage to physical assets at farms and adverse effects on the operations.
- Reducing by 40% the specific emissions (kg of CO2 eq./t.p.) of GHG (scopes 1 and 2) produced in the operations.
- Making that 100% of the main supplies are obtained productively and sustainably, while conserving biodiversity.
- Continue working on initiatives from a mitigation and adaptation approach, which will be achieved through understanding the climate resilience strategy and other tools.
- Continue contributing to the fulfillment of the Sustainable Development Goals and to Colombia’s commitment to reduce GHG emissions by 51% over the next ten years, compared to the base year 2010.
- Promoting a collaborative culture and the inclusion of more stakeholders, ensuring the continuity of initiatives such as the participation of suppliers in the exchange of sustainability practices, training and awareness-raising activities, creation of guides on environmental sustainability and the development of web sites with relevant information on GHG mitigation and offsetting.
- Environmental commitment of the Cold Cuts Business’s El Morro pig farm
Cornare, a regional environmental corporation, awarded a recognition for the execution and development of the activities that are part of the evaluation and categorization of pigs of the Green Growth and Climate Change Agreement of the pig sector in the eastern Antioquia region in Colombia. This acknowledgment program is led by the local environmental authority and aims to promote sustainable development, particularly reducing the emission of GHG from the production activities. The results were achieved through the implementation of good energy practices such as natural lighting and LED lighting, as well as the replacement of refrigeration equipment.
- New transport fleet powered by green energy
This fleet is made up of 14 electric vehicles from Comercial Nutresa and the Coffee Business. It allows reducing GHG emissions by more than 375 tons of CO2 eq. over a three-month period.
- Less water, fewer emissions
The Company implemented the dry cleaning of vehicles at Opperar’s facilities, thus reducing commute distances and preventing the emission of 51,0 tons of CO2 eq./year.
- Renewable energy generation
The Biscuits Business installed the first pilot phase of photovoltaic solar energy, generating an average of 28.000 kWh per month and preventing the emission of 22 tons of CO2 eq./year.
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Governance and organizational culture
Grupo Nutresa confirms its commitment acquired through the Climate Change Policy, which establishes the corporate guidelines related to the integral management of climate change for achieving a low-emission and climate-resilient development by 2030.
The Company defined and renewed the roles, responsibilities and structure for climate governance based on the framework of the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosure (TCFD).
Responsibilities of the roles that are part of the climate management model
Board of Directors
The Board of Directors has the responsibility of steering and supervising the comprehensive climate change strategy.
Senior Management
The Senior Management ensures that the strategy is put into practice by creating incentives, establishing metrics and measuring the performance of the employees who participate in its implementation.
Businesses
The Businesses execute the strategy through mitigation and adaptation programs and initiatives, and the allocation of resources to carry them out in their operations.
In 2020, the Organization identified and assessed the risks and opportunities posed by climate change for both the Company and its value chain. The assessment includes all physical, financial and regulatory risks and opportunities, as well as those related to market access and to the changes in the preference of consumers. The risks included and the assessment results are shown below.
Impact measurement model
The Organization carried out the following actions based on the True Value methodology:
- Assessed the externalities associated with land use, climate change and air quality in the value chain.
- Identified the positive and negative impacts associated with the intervention of natural capital and soil ecosystem services and the purchase of certified commodities, as well as those associated with GHG emissions and air pollutants in the value chain, eco-efficiency initiatives, emission offsetting and the use of clean energies.
- Organized and held training and culture sessions aimed at raising awareness about circular economy, sustainable mobility and climate change, with the participation of more than 1.500 employees.
- Organized panel discussions with experts with the purpose of promoting better habits among the employees with regard to climate change.
Leading practices
The attainment of these goals was possible thanks to:
- The improvement of the production processes.
- The replacement of fuels and refrigerant agents with environment friendlier alternatives.
- Energy eco-efficiency projects.
- The implementation of leading environmental practices.
- Innovation in terms of processes and products.
Grupo Nutresa achieved a 46,4% accumulated reduction in terms of greenhouse gases (scopes 1 and 2) between 2010 and 2020 in Colombia, and 1,6% between 2019 and 2020 in Mexico, Chile, Dominican Republic, Panama, Peru and Costa Rica. Additionally, the Company renewed its green electric power certificate for a period of nine years and the scope was expanded to new acquisitions in Colombia.
Reduction of GHG emissions from transport activities
The emissions associated with the transport activities of Grupo Nutresa’s products were 0,13 tons of CO₂/trip, which represent a 24,3% decrease compared to 2018.
Carbon neutrality in products and processes
The Biscuits and Chocolates Businesses in Costa Rica have the Carbon Reduction Plus and Carbon Neutral corporate certifications, respectively, and they offset 431,7 tons of CO₂ eq.
In the industrial operations, multiple projects were developed in line with the Climate Change Policy. The following are some of such projects that stand out:
- In the Chocolates Business in Costa Rica, the coating process and the corresponding tank were automated, which allowed decreasing 3,8 tons of CO2 eq. per year.
- The Coffee Business production plant in Bogotá increased the equipment’s green coffee load capacity, going from 320 kg/batch to 360 kg/batch. In addition to increasing productivity and allowing an efficient consumption of natural gas, this leads to a decrease of 260 tons of CO2 eq. per year.
Carbon footprint of products
Grupo Nutresa completed the measurement, reduction and offset of the carbon footprint of four of its brands. In total, 38.716 tons of CO₂ eq. were offset through the following projects:
- The Valdivian Coastal Conservation Reserve project in Chile.
- Guatemala Water Filtration and Improved Cookstoves, Gold Standard, in Guatemala.
- West India Wind Power in India.
- BanCO2 Initiative, forest conservation in the eastern Antioquia region in Colombia.
- Bosque Vivo Osa, Fonafifo. Payment methodology for environmental services in Costa Rica.
- I-REC certificates, electric power from renewable sources.
The Organization achieved a 28,75% reduction of the Tosh brand’s carbon footprint compared to 2017, as a result of the improvement in formulations, mainly reducing the content of sugar and other components and optimizing the use of packaging materials and the production processes. Thus, the carbon offset for the Tosh brand has totaled 73.066 tons of CO₂ eq. since 2017, and in the case of Zuko and Livean, it has totaled 38.565 tons of CO₂ eq. since 2019.
Products with a lesser impact
Grupo Nutresa achieved an accumulated acquisition of 4.593 refrigerator units that are environmentally friendlier through Comercial Nutresa. This allowed reducing electricity consumption by more than 800.000 kWh/year.
Sustainable livestock farming
Since 2019, the Company operates based on the guidebook of strategic recommendations for environmental sustainability in the primary production of beef. This has allowed diagnosing 29 suppliers from the integrated livestock farming model of the Cold Cuts Business and identifying opportunities related to leading environmental sustainability practices in order to contribute to the mitigation of GHG emissions associated with the bovine cattle farming sector. The following are some outstanding examples:
- Silvopasture systems.
- Use of diverse forage species.
- Erosion control.
- Management of vegetation cover on soils.
In addition, through the Cold Cuts Business in Colombia, the Company secured the certification for good livestock practices for five of its livestock ranches. This aims to manage biological, physical and chemical risks generated at the ranches and also produce environmental benefits such as the protection and conservation of hydrological sources, animal welfare and the minimization of environmental impacts.
Air quality
The Organization developed initiatives to improve air quality that helped to reduce approximately 1.060 tons of CO₂ eq. in 2020, such as:
- Incorporation of elven electric vehicles and five natural-gas-powered tractors by Comercial Nutresa, Opperar and the Pastas and Cold Cuts Businesses.
- The Chocolates Business in Colombia planted 700 native trees in the wetlands of the Piamonte area in Rionegro, in the Colombian state of Antioquia.
- Implementation of dynamic routing (route optimization) by Comercial Nutresa, Opperar and the Ice Cream and Cold Cuts Businesses.
- Improvements in the control of atmospheric emissions.
- Acquisition of 22 natural-gas-powered vehicles by Opperar, Comercial Nutresa and the Pastas Business, achieving a reduction of 12 tons of CO2 eq./year.
- Dynamic routing or route optimization by Opperar, Comercial Nutresa and the Cold Cuts and Ice Cream Businesses, which has allowed a reduction of more than seven tons of CO2 eq. over a two-month period.
- Optimization of the programming for vehicle pre-cooling process, which represented a reduction of 9,8 tons of CO2 eq.
- 4.974 employees working from home and 658 telecommuters, who represented an approximate reduction of more than 4.900 tons of CO2 eq./year.
- Maintenance of the control and monitoring measures for the pollutants emitted into the atmosphere, which is carried out at each of the production plants through isokinetic monitoring systems.
The emissions are derived from the heating sources at each production plant (furnaces and boilers) and from the coffee roasting process. For the calculation, the Organization uses the AP-42 emission factors established by the Environmental Protection Agency.
Emission control systems
- COP 94.934.102 invested in improvements to the atmospheric pollution control systems (cyclone dust collector units, boiler sleeves and drying chamber) by Tresmontes Lucchetti in Chile.
COP 3.431.912 invested in the replacement of the air surge in the filter of the sleeves of sprayer No. 2 by the Chocolates Business in Colombia.
