Food manufacturers are operating in an increasingly volatile environment. Climate disruption, energy prices and supply chain shocks are making it harder to keep food safe, nutritious and affordable. Yet this is no moment to push decarbonisation down the agenda. Food systems account for around a third of global greenhouse gas emissions, and while many of those emissions are locked into how food is made, they are not fixed.
To secure more sustainable and resilient global food systems, we must urgently reshape how food is produced, processed, packaged and distributed. A big shift towards renewable energy, the targeted reduction of food waste and sustainable packaging solutions is needed.
But one of the biggest opportunities sits inside the factory itself. Decisions on equipment selection, plant design and operational efficiency can unlock emissions reductions while supporting growth. Deloitte projects that transforming food systems could unlock global economic gains of $121tr by 2070. In a sector facing margin pressures and increasing disruption, decarbonisation is not just an environmental imperative; it is a competitive advantage.
Tetra Pak’s latest Sustainability Report points to the same conclusion: reducing emissions across the value chain can support more resilient food systems while improving operational performance.
Driving business performance through sustainability
At a time of rising cost pressures and operational uncertainties, manufacturers are seeking sustainability measures that deliver tangible business value. Those making the greatest progress are not treating sustainability as a standalone initiative, but as a way to improve efficiency, reduce operating costs and strengthen business resilience.
Practical improvements to factory lines can deliver meaningful reductions in emissions, water usage and operational waste. Many of the technologies and approaches needed to accelerate progress are already available and, when applied strategically, can deliver measurable efficiency and cost benefits without requiring full-scale transformation. That starts with targeted investment in equipment upgrades and a rethinking of how energy, water and raw materials flow through production every day.
Dairy points to what is possible
The dairy sector offers one of the clearest examples of what’s possible. It plays a vital role in global food systems, nourishing billions of people every day and supporting millions of livelihoods, while contributing significantly to economic growth in both developed and emerging markets. At the same time, dairy processing relies heavily on heat and energy-intensive processes, including pasteurisation, homogenisation, cooling and cleaning.
Thermal processing accounts for the largest share of energy consumption in dairies, with around 80 per cent used to generate steam and hot water and the remaining 20 per cent powering mechanical processes. Improving efficiency inside the factory is therefore an essential part of reducing emissions. Technologies including industrial heat pumps, advanced homogenisers and optimised cleaning-in-place (CIP) solutions can help manufacturers recover energy, reduce consumption and improve overall line efficiency.
Our recent Dairy Processing Impact Assessment, independently reviewed by the Carbon Trust, found that modernising existing dairy processing equipment could reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 40-49 per cent. These upgrades also have the potential to reduce water use by an average 45 per cent and product losses by 57 per cent. If implemented across global dairy production, they could deliver potential carbon savings of up to 12.7 MtCO2e – the equivalent of taking three million cars off the road. That is not just a sustainability win; it is a productivity gain.
Think systems, not silos
Too often, factory decarbonisation is approached as a series of individual projects: an upgrade here, a retrofit there. While each step may deliver incremental improvements, the biggest gains come when factories are viewed as integrated systems.
A whole-factory approach means looking at the plant as a connected system, where machinery, automation, maintenance and resource efficiency work together rather than in isolation. Importantly, this does not have to mean a full-line overhaul. In many cases, targeted upgrades can deliver significant operational and sustainability improvements across the factory.
On its own, a more efficient pasteuriser can reduce energy demand. But bigger gains come when improvements are linked up across the factory, for example by capturing and reusing excess heat elsewhere in the process. Saving heat, water or raw materials from being wasted and reintroducing them into the factory system delivers compounding benefits. Automation and digital monitoring, along with proactive maintenance, can also help manufacturers improve reliability, reduce product loss and increase efficiency across production.
Realising these gains requires manufacturers to look at total cost of ownership (TCO), weighing investment against efficiency and performance over the life of equipment, production lines and entire factories. Service models can support that shift by linking long term performance more closely to operational goals. Tetra Pak® Advanced Agreements, for example, are built on shared performance responsibility and designed to help manufacturers improve Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE), reduce operational costs and increase uptime through a whole-factory approach.
Resilience has a carbon logic
Climate disruption is putting increasing pressure on food systems, making resilience more important than ever for manufacturers. Those that reduce energy waste, minimise product loss and improve line reliability will be better equipped to respond to volatility and maintain supply when it matters most.
Resilient food systems depend on more than processing alone. They also require smarter decisions across packaging, logistics and resource use to reduce waste and keep materials in circulation. The technologies, equipment and operational capabilities needed to deliver these gains already exist. What is needed now is a shift in mindset. Decarbonisation is not separate from value creation and resilience. It underpins both. For manufacturers, a whole-factory view can turn lower emissions and better resource efficiency into stronger growth and more durable competitive advantage.
Gilles Tisserand is vice president sustainability excellence at Tetra Pak.
This article is sponsored by Tetra Pak.