Food industry future: DuPont strengthens sustainability commitment 

30 Apr 2018 --- DuPont Nutrition & Health has reiterated its commitment to sustainability with the entrance into a collaboration with the Confederation of Danish Industry, and the participation in a two-day boot camp that sought to align business’ strategies with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s). Achieving the goals is expected to require all the major stakeholders around the world to work together. Joined by other pioneering companies, DuPont Nutrition & Health received detailed hands-on assistance about how to create and capture business value through SDG business alignment and potentially launch new business models based on the SDGs.

“DuPont is a global leader in sustainable solutions and we encourage all companies that are major players on the sustainability front, regardless of industry, to do what they can to introduce sustainable solutions. This not just a passing trend,” Mikkel Thrane, Ph.D., global sustainability lead, DuPont Nutrition & Health, tells NutritionInsight.

“Together with sustainable solutions, sustainable sourcing is definitely the future for the food industry given that upstream impacts are often more significant than impacts from companies own production sites – not only regarding impacts such as water use, land use, and emissions, but also concerning social impacts.”

The boot camp kicked off an 18-month program to ensure participating companies effectively embed the U.N. goals into their business strategies. DuPont Nutrition & Health was the only food ingredient company to participate in the boot camp. Perhaps the most important advice offered to the participating companies was to choose three or four of the SDGs where they could make a significant impact, rather than choosing more and making only modest improvements. 

The company continues to work hand-in-hand with farmers to ensure they are sourcing raw materials in environmentally responsible ways, to create sustainable ingredients and food products, to assist food manufacturers by recommending environmentally safe production methods, and to participate in organizations promoting sustainable solutions that will achieve the SDGs.

Since the beginning of 2017, DuPont Nutrition & Health has taken numerous actions to advance its global leadership role in sustainability. Last year, they introduced their 2020 Sustainability Strategy, committing to use sustainably sourced and produced ingredients and innovative solutions to meet the United Nations’ SDGs. The 17 SDGs were adopted by the U.N. in 2015 to guide governments, businesses, civil society and people on how to contribute to a more sustainable world.

In the coming months, they expect to continue to expand their business focus on the SDGs and communicate progress being made with its seaweed management program, its manufacturing footprint and customer sustainability partnerships. 

By Laxmi Haigh