HAS green academy helps companies map sustainability improvements with LCA course

Sustainability is an increasingly important topic within corporate walls, and that will only increase as European legislation makes sustainability reporting mandatory for large companies starting in 2025. Under the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), food producers, but also flower and plant growers will be obliged to express the environmental impact of their production and processes in terms of CO2 emissions, among other things. Reason for HAS green academy to train companies to comply with the new directive.

One of the tools that helps companies understand and improve their environmental footprint is the Life Cycle Analysis, or LCA. The LCA takes into account various environmental indicators, such as carbon emissions, water consumption, land and pesticide use and more. It allows companies to identify where the greatest environmental impact is and explore more sustainable alternatives.

Through a hands-on course in which the LCA method is used as a basis, teacher Marjolein de Bruin of HAS green academy is teaching students the necessary knowledge this fall. She developed the course together with lecturer colleagues and consulting firm Blonk, which specializes in LCA within agro and food.

Marjolein: "Earlier this year, students at the HAS already followed the minor 'Sustainability: measuring is knowing' in which we visualized the LCA for a number of companies within food and agro." Among other things, students here mapped the LCA of the plant-based burger of the company Vion Food Group. "The other companies that participated were also very enthusiastic about the method and the insights they gained from it. So the logical next step was to offer this knowledge more widely, and thus the idea for the course was born."

In seven lessons, students learn the basic theory of the LCA method, according to the steps to take to perform the analysis. They get to work practically by preparing an initial LCA using a process on their own farm or a farm of their choice. "What matters is that you can make a fair calculation, which you can also compare with competitors, for example," Marjolein explains. The starting point may be the new legislation, but according to Marjolein, sustainability is also going to make money in the long run if you start implementing improvements in your processes from an LCA and can communicate about it. "Sustainability claims that you can substantiate through this way ensure that consumers make an informed choice for your products versus those of competitors."