Food companies Ajinomoto and Danone launch partnership to cut dairy industry's CO2 emissions

Ajinomoto Co

19/09/2024 13:39

Sept 19 (Reuters) - Food companies Ajinomoto  2802.T 
and Danone  DANO.PA  unveiled on Thursday a partnership to
reduce the dairy industry's greenhouse gas emissions.
    
    WHY IT MATTERS:
    Livestock is a major source of methane emissions, often from
manure and the routine bodily functions of animals such as cows'
belching, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture
Organization.
    Furthermore, leading global companies are keen to burnish
their ESG (environmental, social and governance) credentials, in
which steps taken by companies to protect the environment score
highly. 
    
    CONTEXT:
    The partnership between Ajinomoto and Danone to cut
greenhouse gas emissions also comes after six of the world's
largest dairy companies - including Danone - last year unveiled
an alliance to cut methane emissions at the United Nations COP28
summit.
    
    BY THE NUMBERS:
    Danone and Ajinomoto said they would join up to use an
Ajinomoto product called AjiPro®-L.
    This is used for a cow's digestive system and figures cited
by the companies said it decreases nitrous oxide emissions from
manure by approximately 25% and - if combined with a methane
reduction additive - can amplify the effect of the methane
reduction additive by approximately 30%.
    
    KEY QUOTE:
    "With partners like Ajinomoto Co., we are expanding our
toolkit of solutions that we are bringing to our dairy farmers
that have a dual effect - on the one hand reducing on farm GHG
emissions whilst on the other, supporting farmers to improve
their margin, and as a result, boost their resilience," said
Danone's chief procurement officer Jean-Yves Krummenacher. 

 (Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta
Editing by Tomasz Janowski)
 ((sudip.kargupta@thomsonreuters.com;))