Reducing Scope 3 emissions in food and beverage starts with supplier engagement. But that engagement looks very different depending on where you are in the value chain.

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From agricultural inputs to end-of-life waste systems, food and beverage supply chains span a wide range of supplier types, each with different data maturity, operational control, and capacity to engage. One-size-fits-all engagement programs rarely succeed in this environment.  

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Below is a high-level look at how engagement shifts across the value chain.

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Agriculture and Ingredient Suppliers

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Agricultural emissions are shaped by complex ingredient supply chains, rooted in farm-specific agricultural practices. Data availability varies widely from some suppliers having engaged in large-scale footprinting initiatives, while others have never mapped their products to individual emission factors, nor have the resources to do it.

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Key considerations:

• Limited access to granular, crop- and location-based emission factors

• Complex ingredient inclusion percentage calculations  

• Wide range of supplier maturity levels

• Difficulty in comparing “apples to apples”

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Engagement works best when it is lightweight, practical, and focused on building capability over time rather than imposing complex reporting requirements.

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Processing and Manufacturing Suppliers

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Manufacturers typically operate in more structured environments, with clearer energy and production data. However, system boundaries can become more complex due to shared facilities and multi-product lines.

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Key considerations:

• Better access to operational and energy data

• Complex attribution across facilities and product lines

• Clear operational levers such as energy efficiency and fuel switching

• Strong alignment between emissions reduction and cost savings

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Engagement should focus on process improvement and energy inputs, not just emissions totals.

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Packaging and Materials Suppliers

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Packaging decisions significantly influence both upstream production emissions and downstream waste outcomes. These suppliers often sit between food and non-food systems, serving multiple industries.

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Key considerations:

• Material choice and weight drive emissions impact

• Design decisions affect recyclability and recovery

• Suppliers may operate across multiple sectors

• Early collaboration unlocks greater reduction potential

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Engagement is most effective when it supports dialogue around design trade-offs and alternatives, rather than limiting conversations to reporting.

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Logistics and Distribution Suppliers

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Logistics emissions are driven by fuel type, transport mode, routing, and network configuration. Companies often work with a mix of global and regional carriers.

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Key considerations:

• Diverse reporting methodologies across providers

• Emissions heavily influenced by operational decisions

• Need for consistent boundaries and metrics

• Importance of comparability without overburdening suppliers

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Engagement should prioritize standardized, practical inputs that inform network optimization and modal decisions.

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Retail, Food Service, and Operations

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Retail and food service emissions are often fragmented across many locations and operators. Individual footprints may be small, but aggregate impact is significant.

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Key considerations:

• Distributed operational control

• Large number of sites and service providers

• Trade-offs between granularity and scalability

• Greater value in trend visibility than perfect precision

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Consistency and repeatability matter more than highly granular data collection at this stage.

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End-of-Life and Waste Management

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End-of-life emissions depend on packaging disposal pathways, food waste treatment, regional infrastructure, and recovery systems. Outcomes are shaped as much by systems as by individual suppliers.

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Key considerations:

• Variability in local recycling and recovery infrastructure

• Distinction between landfill, composting, recycling, and energy recovery

• Influence of upstream packaging and sourcing decisions

• Importance of standardized assumptions across regions

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Engagement here should support informed upstream design and sourcing decisions, rather than attempting to over-optimize downstream data.

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Designing Engagement for Reality

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Across the food and beverage value chain, effective supplier engagement is not about uniformity but fit for purpose.

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Agricultural suppliers require different approaches than manufacturers; packaging suppliers face different constraints than logistics providers; retail networks operate differently from waste systems.

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Strong Scope 3 programs adapt engagement models to supplier context, enabling broader participation, better data, and clearer prioritization of reduction efforts.