Starch Europe adopts Decarbonisation Roadmap

Starch Europe announced the adoption and publication of a sector-wide decarbonisation Roadmap 2019-2030.

At their yearly conference, returning this year to an in person event, the European starch sector announced a commitment to lowering their Greenhouse Gas emissions (Scope 1 and 2) by 25% per tonne of starch produced, between 2019 and 2030.

This follows the publication earlier this year of the results of their most recent sector-wide LCA Study, which showed a 19% reduction in CO₂ emissions per tonne of starch, between 2009 and 2019.

Regular monitoring, a mid-way state-of-play progress report, and a full and independently conducted LCA study in 2031, were also part of the commitments to ensure that targets were met.

The European starch producers unanimously agreed, however, that while these goals were clearly within their vision of a more sustainable near future, they would be tough to achieve without significant help, especially in these particularly challenging times.

Christophe Rupp-Dahlem, President of Starch Europe:
 

"Our vision is ambitious but clear, we know where we are heading, and we are determined to get there. To produce this Roadmap, we have worked together, across the industry, to identify the roads that could lead us there."

"As an industry, each and every one of us is accustomed to continuously adapting. But we are facing unprecedented challenges and threats today - inflationary energy and agricultural raw material prices, and even threats to our very energy supply - that conspire to make this an even more difficult proposition."

"We will need the right support and regulatory environment to get us safely where we want to go, while retaining our competitiveness."

As part of their Roadmap, Starch Europe outlined a number of proposed means to achieve their targets, as well as a series of political and financial measures needed to achieve this ambitious reduction goal.