Olam has secured a three-year green loan facility of USD 500 million from a consortium of 15 lenders led by ING Bank. Olam will pay a lower interest on the credit line, which is Asia’s first green consortium loan, if it achieves targets of improvement in over 50 environmental, social and governance parameters every year.
Nestle launched new Milkybar Wowsomes chocolate in the UK and Ireland which has 30% less sugar thanks to a new technology that reduces the sugar content without altering the sweetness level.
Talking of sweetness, in Brazil, a bill in the Senate proposes to allow cane cultivation in Amazon to produce ethanol. Green groups and UNICA, which represents the country’s cane sector, opposed the move, arguing that it would make Brazil’s ability to meet the Paris pact goals harder. UNICA added that it would hurt the image of the sugar and ethanol industry in the global market.
The price of vanilla has skyrocketed to a high of USD 600/kg, making it more expensive than silver, after a cyclone last year hit Madagascar – which produces 80% of the world’s vanilla. Bakeries and ice cream makers the world over have had to increase their prices or resort to using substitutes. Only 1% of vanilla extract which is used in food comes from the real plant, however, the rest is made from vanillin molecules found in coal tar, petroleum and wood.
Several NGOs have called on investors, consumers, supermarkets and the meat processing industry to put pressure on soy traders to improve the traceability of their soy supply chain. This follows the release of a new report which shows massive deforestation of the Gran Chaco region in Argentina and Paraguay, deforestation which is blamed on soybean demand. The NGOs conceded that some trade houses had implemented the Brazilian Soy Moratorium to improve sustainability but argued this was limited to the Brazilian Amazon.
Environmental groups in the EU are concerned that the common agriculture policy (CAP) which is up for renewal next year will continue to subsidise large industrial farms and practices that are leading to the decimation of wildlife. Recent studies showed that the population of farmland birds dropped by over half in the past 30 years in Europe, while the number of insects is also dropping because of pesticides.
Leading conservation BirdLife Europe, however, said that the EU was in a “state of denial” regarding the effect of farming on wildlife. There is also talk that EU subsidies for wildlife-friendly farming would be cut after the European Court of Auditors published a report saying they were ineffective.
But there are efforts which show that well managed commercial farming is not necessarily destructive. BirdLife Netherlands has been working with Dutch dairy farmers to develop products that are friendly to the birds, as well as make some changes – such as cutting the fields later in the year – to avoid affecting the wildlife.
The loss of fertile soil as a result of unsustainable farming is putting some 3.2 billion people at risk, the equivalent of 2/5th of the global population, according to a report by IPBES. The study warns that 50-700 million people could be displaced by 2050 due to pollution and climate change as land degradation increases.
Using blockchain technology in agriculture is expected to help improve traceability within the supply chain. It could help crack down on the amount of fake organic food as well as speed up payments. The head of JPMorgan has said he regretted saying earlier that Bitcoin was a “fraud,” admitting that cryptocurrency was going to change the business. The bank is building its own blockchain solution – Quorum.
Another way of solving degrading land would be to eat more plant-based foods instead of using them to feed animals we then eat. Scientists have called this “opportunity food loss” or the cost of choosing a particular alternative over better options. Looking at the US, they found that growing plant-based food for human’s direct consumption could feed an additional 350 million people.
Over ¾ of ads in sports sponsorships promote unhealthy food in the US, according to a new study. In the UK only 1.2% of food advertising promotes vegetables. Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver is working with ad agencies to start a campaign to change how people perceive vegetables. This has worked in the past. The Popeye cartoon, which encouraged eating spinach, reportedly pushed sales up by 30% in the 1930s.
This report was produced by ECRUU
