April 14, 2008 - The beverage industry has a new tool for measuring and managing carbon footprints. The Carbon Action Plan (CAP), unveiled at an industry conference last week, offers a standardized protocol for the measurement and independent verification of greenhouse gas emissions across the entire supply chain.

The tool has been developed under a partnership formed by NSF International, a food safety and standards accreditation organization, and Zenith International, a international beverage industry consultancy. The not-for-profit CAP Partnership has being set up to develop the program, which will eventually create a "nutrition-style" product label for green performance in five key areas:

• the amount of renewable energy used
• the percentage of recycled material in the packaging
• the number of water litres used to make 1 liter of product
• the extent of a company's carbon reduction in the previous two years
• the amount of carbon emissions verified as having been offset

CAP uses a proprietary input-output model, provided by environmental research firm Trucost, to help managers identify carbon-heavy sections of their supply chains. The tool, based on internationally recognized carbon accounting protocols, also defines which business operations should be included in emissions calculations.

"The great advantage of CAP is that it builds on the work that most companies are already doing," says Koen Bontinck, NSF VP of international operations. "NSF's prime role is to check methodologies of measurement and independently verify company returns and claims."

With worldwide consumption of ready-to-drink beverages approaching one trillion liters a year, according to some estimates, many beverage companies are struggling to come to grips with their greenhouse gas emissions from energy use and packaging materials. (Fiji Water is one of the few to take a stab.)

“This initiative is a prime example of how important it now is for global industries to rapidly measure and manage the environmental impacts of their businesses," says Simon Thomas, CEO of Trucost. "Many beverage companies want to address their carbon footprints and, since they often share suppliers, it makes sense to share information too, avoiding duplication and bringing down emissions for the industry as a whole.”

CAP is currently being piloted in the bottled-water industry, with soft drinks as the next priority, according to NSF. The program may eventually be rolled out to other food and drink sectors.