World: Boortmalt to move into regenerative system

One of the world’s biggest malting companies, Boortmalt, has announced plans to move its 3m tonnes of barley supplies towards regenerative farming systems — in a bid to reduce its raw material emissions by 30% by the year 2030, Irish Examiner reported on May 8.

If achieved, it will reduce the footprint of Boortmalt’s barley — which now accounts for the majority of the firm’s emissions — by 200,000 tonnes of CO2-equivalent.

Boortmalt, which operates 27 malting plants across five continents — including one in Ireland — will be supported by a partnership with Soil Capital, an expert agronomy firm, which will specifically target Scope 3 emissions.

Scope 3 emissions refers to emissions from activities not owned or controlled by the reporting organisation, from up and down its value chain — eg primary production.

Founded in 2013, Soil Capital is a B Corp company aiming to support farmers in the transition towards profitable regenerative agriculture.

Currently operating in France, Belgium, and Britain, the firm has developed a regenerative agriculture programme based on an online platform for greenhouse gas assessment.

As part of the partnership, it will provide boots-on-the-ground support and advice on how regenerative agriculture practices can be implemented and rewarded.

Soil Capital enables farmers to certify their carbon footprint, while giving companies (especially in the agri-food sector) the guarantees of a reliable certification methodology and the means to make a concrete commitment to a sourcing approach.

These services are certified through a carbon indicator that aligns with the company’s goals of reducing Scope 3 carbon emissions and measurable and verified by third parties.

Chief executive Yvan Schaepman said: “At Boortmalt, we believe that evolving together towards regenerative agriculture is a strong lever to cultivate sustainable produce such as malting barley.

"However, the task is huge, complex, and involves various degrees of adaptations for our suppliers.

“With that idea in mind, we have entered into this partnership with Soil Capital to support that pace of adaptation and make a difference.”

The CEO of Soil Capital, Chuck de Liedekerke, added: “We are impressed by Boortmalt’s thoughtful and decisive strategy to reduce Scope 3 emissions by working hand-in-hand with their suppliers.

“We believe this is the right way to achieve the necessary transition at scale.

“By rewarding farmers’ work and improving supply chain resilience, we will ultimately drastically improve carbon emissions from Scope 3.”

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