Plan Four Zero is our strategy for building a more sustainable business and supply chain, working together for a better future.
Our group-wide plan is governed by Three Values and founded on Four Pillars, which describe how will we achieve our commitments between now and 2040.
Grounded in science, the plan outlines how we will maintain and enhance the financial resilience of our business and supply chains, protect and restore nature and biodiversity, inspire sustainable farming and support communities as we adapt to a climate-smart economy.
Investing an initial €100m* in Plan Four Zero to accelerate action and scale up solutions.
Our Starting point
Measuring our impact was the first step in managing our emissions and finding the right solutions. Using 2018 as the base year, we found that Scope 1 and 2 operational emissions were approximately 1% of the total and Scope 3 supply chain emissions represented the remaining 99%.
Operational emissions are caused by burning fossil fuels to heat water, F-gases from refrigeration systems, our company vehicles and the procurement of electricity. Sourcing live cattle and lambs from the UK and Ireland, as well as other meat products from around the world, accounted for the largest portion of our emissions, at 95% of the total.
Our priority is to address operational and on-farm emissions.
Our Climate Targets
Our targets are approved by the Science-Based Targets Initiative. By 2030 we are committed to reduce:
- Scope 1 and 2 absolute emissions by 59%, in line with a 1.5°C pathway
- Scope 3 emissions intensity of Purchased Goods and Services by 28%, per tonne of finished product
In 2025, we are updating these targets to include FLAG and non-FLAG, near and long term targets.
Supply chain emissions are outside of our direct control, and successfully reducing them to Net Zero will require collaboration across sectors and industries; locally, nationally and globally, with everyone playing their part.
We will protect and restore nature and biodiversity and work towards the development of a circular economy, powered by renewable energy.
We will inspire sustainable farming to foster better animal health and welfare, enhance meat quality and restore biodiversity, soil health and water quality.
We will continue to provide high quality, natural, delicious food, rich in protein, essential vitamins and minerals, to support human health and wellbeing.
We will promote and support fairness, equality and inclusion with our people and communities, working with them to build a more resilient and sustainable future as we adapt to a changing climate.
Our Operations
We are decreasing Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions across our sites and aim to reduce them as close to zero as possible by 2040.
We will continue to procure 100% renewable electricity to power our sites, and progress towards on-site renewable generation.
We have progressively reduced fugitive emissions since 2018 and plan to replace all f-gas systems with zero-emission systems by 2035.
To heat water on our sites we are upgrading equipment to burn lower emission fuels and switching to renewable sources of thermal energy generation such as electricity and renewable sources of heat recovery such as heat pumps.
We plan to switch 100% of the company fleet to zero-emission vehicles by 2030.
Our Supply Chain
Our company-wide emissions intensity for sourcing livestock is decreasing.
Across our 24 production sites we have a processing capacity of over 1m cattle and 3.5m sheep a year.
In Ireland and the UK, farm carbon footprints are undertaken every 18-24 months and farmers receive feedback reports explaining their emissions hotspots, along with recommended actions and practice changes to reduce emissions. Such recommendations are aligned with the Teagasc Marginal Abatement Cost Curve and based on each farms’ bespoke enterprise and risk appetite.
In Ireland, Bord Bia carbon footprint over 96% of our Irish cattle suppliers who are members of the Sustainable Beef and Lamb Assurance Scheme.
In the UK, we are working with Promar and Agrecalc to measure emissions from farms which represent 11% and 12% of our beef and lamb volumes, respectively. Round One involved collecting farm data from 2021-2022 and Round two is underway, collecting data from 2023-2025, expanding assessments to gather further insights into farm efficiency and sustainability.
We will continue to enhance production efficiencies, improve carcass utilisation and derive greater value from our livestock products, which will further reduce our emissions intensity.
Accelerating Progress
Having established a new baseline, we will continue to engage with our farmer suppliers to accelerate action and reduce emissions. We will increasingly use primary data to calculate more up to date and accurate carbon footprints for our beef and lamb products.
Sharing these product carbon footprints with our customers is an important step in linking supply chain data and developing a consistent approach to measurement, which will allow us to demonstrate progress against our shared climate targets.
The methodology will be third party verified, ensuring credibility and transparency, allowing us to report to a recognised standard.
Baseline
UK
Carbon Footprint farms using AgReCalc and set a new Scope 3 supplier baseline.
IRELAND
Bord Bia Carbon Footprint farms using PAS2050 model, baseline established.
Actions to Reduce Emissions & Increase Efficiencies
UK
Promar provide feedback reports with farm specific plans to reduce emissions.
Carbon Footprints repeated every 18-24 months.
IRELAND
Bord Bia provide feedback reports with recommended actions to reduce emissions. Carbon Footprints repeated every 18 months.
Product Category Carbon Footprints
Build a Product Carbon Footprint Model for our UK, Irish, New Zealand and Australian meat product categories.
Includes emissions from cradle to processing site gate.
Verification
The Carbon Trust verify the methodology.
Credibility and transparency.
Allow us to report to a recognised standard.
Share Product Category Emissions & Demonstrate Progress
Share product category carbon footprints with customers for use in emissions calculations.
Repeat process & demonstrate progress as:
- Suppliers take action to reduce emissions
- Scope 3 accounting evolves
Insights
We aim to take big steps and accelerate action to ensure our footprints are smaller as we transition to a net zero future.
