Dunbia (a division of Dawn Meats Group) has committed to delivering a 30% reduction by 2030 in greenhouse gas emissions from its own facilities and from the generation of the energy it purchases. The targets have been made under Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi) which ensures emissions reduction is verified and documented against a scientific baseline.
The commitment comes in the wake of COP25 UN Climate Change Conference in Madrid where political, business and NGO leaders sought to coordinate a collective response to global warming.
In May 2019 Dawn Meats Group which includes Dunbia in the UK, signed up to the SBTi becoming the first European beef and lamb processor to make such a commitment. In collaboration with the Carbon Trust, the Group has developed a pathway for its Scope 1 and 2 emissions and is working on solutions for Scope 3 emissions, with 2030 targets now validated and approved by SBTi.
Dunbia CEO Niall Browne stated: “We have been working for more than 10 years to reduce emissions internally and more widely across our supply chain and we recognise the urgency to adopt even more aggressive measures to reduce emissions. We are working with stakeholders in collaborative projects to accelerate progress in this critical area. Achieving reductions of up to 30% in our greenhouse gas emissions poses a considerable challenge, but it is vital that Dawn accelerates the rate of change in the environmental footprint of its business.”
Group head of CSR & sustainability Gill Higgins commented: “Dawn Meats Group recognises that any sustainable targets and solutions to global warming must be grounded in science. The approval of our targets by SBTi is a significant first step towards a smaller emissions footprint and we will continue to stretch our ambition in the years to come.”
The Science Based Targets initiative is a collaboration between the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC), World Resources Institute (WRI), and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and one of the We Mean Business Coalition commitments. The SBTi champions science-based target setting as a powerful way of boosting companies’ competitive advantage in the transition to the low-carbon economy.
Dunbia is a member of the Red Tractor Assurance Scheme, a signatory to Courtauld 2025 and the UK Plastics Pact and an active member of the European Roundtable for Beef Sustainability (ERBS).
