The Courtauld Commitment is a voluntary agreement aimed at improving resource efficiency and reducing the carbon impact of the UK grocery sector.
The Commitment helps deliver the UK governments’ policy goal of a ‘circular economy’ and the objectives of the Climate Change Act to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 34% by 2020 and 80% by 2050. Efficiencies made through the Courtauld Commitment benefit the grocery sector, consumers and the economy. This was a continuation of the original Courtauld Commitment and ran from 2010 to December 2012.
The Courtauld Commitment 2 helped businesses, consumers and local authorities to save money, improve performance and reduce their carbon footprint.
It specifically helped businesses to:
- Reduce costs.
- Improve the resource efficiency of products and their packaging.
- Better position organisations for a carbon-constrained future.
- Deliver against consumer expectations.
- Help drive innovation in the sector.
The second phase of the Courtauld Commitment, a voluntary agreement funded by the UK governments and delivered by WRAP1, set out to improve resource efficiency and reduce waste within the UK grocery sector from 2010 to 2012 inclusive. It aimed to achieve three targets: to reduce household food and drink waste, supply chain product waste and the carbon impact of packaging.
Packaging target was achieved
The carbon impact of grocery packaging was reduced by 10.0% compared to the target of 10%. Grocery packaging weight also reduced by 10.7%.
Household food and drink waste target was narrowly missed
An estimated 3.7% absolute reduction in total household food waste2 was achieved (270,000 tonnes per year) against a target of 4% (92% of the target was achieved). However avoidable household food waste reduced by 5.3%. This will have saved consumers £700 million and local authorities £20 million a year in 2012. The carbon savings associated with the reduction in avoidable household food waste amounted to around 930,000 tonnes CO2eq a year.
Supply chain product and packaging waste target was exceeded
Traditional grocery product and packaging waste in the grocery supply chain was reduced by 7.4%, exceeding the 5% target. Supply chain waste decreased by 217,000 tonnes per year over the period.
For further information please follow the link: WRAP Results for Courtauld Commitment 2
Source: WRAP