Rigour Meets Affordability: Introducing Scope 3 Assessments for Streamlined Supply Chain Reporting

If you’re a food business, up to 95% of your entire carbon footprint will come from your Scope 3 emissions—specifically, the emissions associated with the food and beverage products you source from suppliers. To help food businesses confidently meet sustainability standards, regulatory reporting requirements, and growing customer demand for transparency, Foodsteps is launching Scope 3 Assessments.

 “Foodsteps analysed 1.7 million rows of food and beverage data with Compass. The insights from Foodsteps contributed to the development of Compass' Transition Plan (launched in February 2024), which is aligned to the goals of the UK government’s Transition Plan Taskforce." — Stephanie Pereira, Climate & Environment Impact Analyst at Compass Group’s Foodbuy UK&I.

What are Foodsteps Scope 3 Assessments?

Foodsteps Scope 3 Assessments are comprehensive analyses of your supply chain, which you can rely on to rigorously and affordably measure and report your Scope 3 emissions. With these assessments, food businesses can easily meet reporting obligations, access Foodsteps’ industry-leading specialised data and expert guidance, and most importantly, drive meaningful decarbonisation. This not only accelerates your transition to Net Zero but also helps you grow your business.

What are the key benefits for food businesses?

1. Easily meet sustainability reporting requirements and standards like the CSRD. The CSRD is the most comprehensive ESG disclosure requirement to-date, which is particularly relevant for food businesses as they face increasing scrutiny over their impact on the environment and biodiversity. The CSRD requires companies to treat sustainability data with the same importance as financial data. But measuring Scope 3 emissions – the lion’s share of any food businesses’ carbon footprint – is notoriously complex, especially for companies that produce or purchase thousands or even millions of SKUs, which require large-scale analysis. This process is time-consuming and requires gathering data from hundreds or thousands of suppliers. Outsourcing this task to a consultancy can be extremely costly, and data quality and reliability may still be at risk; if you or a consultancy use generic emissions factors that aren’t tailored to food and beverage, then the calculations won’t be accurate. Our bespoke models streamline this process by quickly ingesting, analysing, and categorising millions of data points. You can rely on Foodsteps to reduce compliance costs and headaches associated not only with the CSRD but also ISSB and SBTi-Flag disclosures. Last but not least, if you need to report your Scope 3 emissions in a business tender or at the request of an investor, you can confidently repurpose this data to do so. 

2. Foodsteps’ industry-leading food data and expert support. Foodsteps was designed specifically for the food industry. We’ve built an industry-leading database, GHG Protocol-aligned methodologies, and strategic partnerships in order to provide food businesses with the most accurate and comprehensive data and insights available. Our database includes over 40,000 unique emissions factors and 4,300 unique ingredients. Through the use of international trade data and global agricultural production volumes, our calculations are specific to both the country the ingredient is sourced from and consumed in. What’s more, we take a volume-based approach as opposed to a spend-based approach, which results in more reliable and stable Scope 3 measurements. Why does this matter? Taking a spend-based approach is the default method used by many software platforms and consultancies that lack food sector expertise; spend-based is rudimentary as most companies have records of payment - not mass - for purchased items, but it’s the wrong approach. Your calculations and baseline data will be lower-quality and not reliable, because spend-based data frequently depends on industry averages and often overlooks factors such as inflation or price fluctuations. We further enhance utility and accuracy by incorporating primary data from your suppliers, which means that any decarbonisation achieved with your suppliers will be reflected in our assessment. Combined with access to our in-house data scientists, we ensure you receive personalised support and consistent year-on-year metrics.

Download our Scope 3 Methodology White Paper

3. Drive real decarbonisation. Reporting emissions is one task. Reducing them is another, much bigger task. With precise Scope 3 emissions data, food businesses gain deeper insights into the environmental impact of their procurement practices and sustainability policies. Most importantly, they are empowered to make data-driven decisions. For example, having SKU-specific or category-specific data helps businesses identify key emissions hotspots and design targeted reduction initiatives like switching suppliers or sourcing lower-carbon ingredients. With granular data, businesses can accurately measure the cost of their value chain emissions, capture savings from emission reductions, and reduce their dependence on carbon offsets. As a result, sustainability and procurement teams can reduce the costs of their Net Zero transition, and get credit for progress they’ve made thus far.
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4. ‍Tested and trusted by large food businesses. You can trust you’re in safe hands when you work with Foodsteps. We work with over a hundred leading food service businesses and manufacturers like KFC, Ella’s Kitchen, Coco Di Mama, Chartwells, Wildfarmed, Ask Italian and Levy (to name a few!) to deliver best-in-class carbon accounting, reporting and reductions. In fact, we’ve been working with the world’s largest corporate catering company, Compass Group, for over 2 years, and successfully helped them complete the largest food and beverage Scope 3 assessment to-date.

“Based on our successful experience [in 2023], we partnered with Foodsteps once again to measure our FY24 food and beverage data. By working with Foodsteps on Scope 3 Assessments and recipe measurement, Compass has made evidence-based ingredient choices and utilised menu modelling to inform decisions, empowering stakeholders to drive change within their sectors.” — Stephanie Pereira, Climate & Environment Impact Analyst at Compass Group’s Foodbuy UK&I.

From compliance to competitive edge

Measurement and reporting should not be treated as tick box compliance exercises. Food service businesses and food manufacturers that provide accurate and transparent sustainability disclosures have the opportunity to gain a significant edge. With verifiable sustainability credentials, food companies can become preferred suppliers, attract new customers and stand out in a crowded market. 

“Companies that better manage climate-related risks and opportunities will be the suppliers of choice. … Reporting on sustainability to investors is not a compliance exercise, it is a communication of value creation and business resilience.” — Richard Barker, member of the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) and professor at Oxford University’s Saïd Business School.

By measuring Scope 3 emissions with Foodsteps, food companies can more easily meet regulatory requirements and accelerate their decarbonisation efforts in the near-term, making them more appealing to eco-conscious consumers and partners. Even better, these companies will be set up for long-term success while contributing to a more sustainable food system.

Talk to a Foodsteps expert about our Scope 3 Assessments.