Our Carbon Footprint
EFFICIENCY THROUGH INNOVATION
Silver Spoon, who is part of British Sugar, is the most efficient sugar manufacturer in Europe. Around £1billion has been invested in the last two decades to improve raw material and energy usage efficiency, as well as leading technology in water and gas treatment to raise environmental standards. The company has reduced energy requirements per tonne of sugar produced by 40%.
SILVER SPOON & CARBON FOOTPRINT
As the UK’s number 1 sugar brand we are committed to reducing our environmental impact. In January 2008 together with British Sugar we became a pilot partner with the Carbon Trust. We believe carbon-footprinting needs to be implemented with a standard methodology across the manufacturing industry if results are to be meaningful to customers and consumers.
We are proud to be the first sugar manufacturer in the world to certify the carbon footprint of its sugar according to the new PAS 2050 British standard, the world’s first standard for assessing the lifecycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of products and services.
Look out for our Carbon Footprint packs in store now.
WORKING WITH THE CARBON TRUST
We have been working with the Carbon Trust to develop PAS 2050, The Carbon Trust was set up by the UK Government in 2001 as an independent company. The Trust’s mission is to accelerate the move to a low carbon economy by working with organisations to reduce carbon emissions and develop commercial low carbon technologies.
The Carbon Trust estimates that the UK has a carbon footprint of 650 million tonnes of greenhouse gas. This means each person in the UK has an estimated footprint of about 11 tonnes a year. To find out more visit www.carbontrust.co.uk
WHAT IS A CARBON FOOTPRINT?
A carbon footprint is a measure of the impact human activities have on the environment. It is measured in units of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions produced.
A product carbon footprint considers its total life cycle from ‘field to fork’.
OUR CARBON FOOTPRINT
In order to calculate the carbon footprint of our homegrown granulated sugar, we have completed a detailed assessment of each stage of our sugar production process. Using the new PAS 2050 methodology, we have analysed our ‘Total Supply Chain’, including growing and transporting the sugar beet, producing the sugar then sending the packs to store for you to buy and enjoy.
A one kg bag of homegrown sugar has been certified by the Carbon Trust to produce 0.5 kg of CO2 equivalent per kg of product. The low carbon footprint number reflects a focus for many years on improving our energy efficiency.
REDUCING OUR CARBON FOOTPRINT
Results of our work with the Carbon Trust will assist in energy reduction in the next 3 years, identifying further areas of focus for energy efficiency.
Silver Spoon and British Sugar continue to be committed to reducing their environmental impact and are investing £20m in energy reduction projects in the next 3 years. They vary from small projects such as more efficient lighting, to investment in heat recovery, energy recapture and the use of biogas as an alternative fuel. Between 2006 and 2009 we are working to reduce our use of energy by 19%.
