Biocode clarifies food companies’ climate communication

Transparent and reliable climate communication is an increasingly important competitive factor in the market. With Biocode, food companies can clearly communicate the responsibility of their products and their climate measures.

Biocode is a digital carbon footprint calculator for the food industry, which helps its users calculate and reduce their own climate impacts. Every user gets access to a public webpage that supports climate communication, i.e. a member profile.

– With Biocode, companies can tell their customers and other stakeholders clearly about the emissions and goals of their own products and company, says Biocode’s CEO Ernesto Hartikainen.

– We have focused especially on making the service as clear and simple to use as possible, so it is easy to communicate about climate work to stakeholders in an understandable way, Hartikainen continues.

Service for both Finnish and global food companies

In addition to Finnish food companies, multilingual Biocode aims to reach international markets as well.

– Nordic and Finnish food products are globally interesting. Being carbon neutral is one great way to differentiate in international markets. Our service is open for all international businesses no matter the location.

Hartikainen points out that reliability and independency are attributes often associated with being Nordic.

Primary producers in the carbon footprint calculation

The share of primary production in the carbon footprint of the final product is significant, typically more than half of the food’s carbon footprint. A food manufacturer can optimize its own production to have lower emissions, but if you want to reduce emissions throughout the product’s life cycle, it is important to cooperate with primary production as well. When the entire food production chain takes climate measures together, truly impressive results can be achieved.

It is for this reason that Biocode’s carbon footprint calculator wanted to include a primary production calculation tool, which was released in the fall of 2022. With it, producers and farmers can estimate their own carbon footprint per field block and the carbon sequestration capacity of the soil.

With the help of the tool, food companies can also calculate the entire life cycle of their products, from field to the shelf, using their own accurate primary data, instead of average emission factors.

– The role of primary production in striving for low carbon is significant. Although soil-related issues – such as the soil’s carbon sequestration capacity – are quite complex entities, primary producers have a strong motivation to develop operations and be involved in solving the challenges of food production.

The results shows you clearly what the emissions consist of and what could be the areas that should be paid attention to if you want to reduce emissions in the future. On the basis of the calculator, you can take the activities in the right direction.

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Get to know Biocode’s users and their climate actions.