Pet food giant Purina is working to decarbonize its supply chain to reduce the impact of its myriad products on the planet.
The Nestlé-owned company has undertaken a massive transformation in the United Kingdom that stretches from reducing fertilizer use in agriculture to reversing nature loss, as Trellis reported.
Nestlé Purina PetCare Europe is the umbrella over Felix, Purina One, and other popular brands. In the last couple of years, it has established goals to cut its pollution by 50% and use regenerative farming for 20% of its cereals and vegetable protein by 2025 and 50% of them by 2030, Trellis said.
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The outfit is also focused on restoring the continent's marine ecosystems, which have been decimated by overfishing, pollution, and the rapidly rising global temperature. Only 15% of the world's fisheries are in good condition, and continuing current practices could empty the ocean of fish by 2048, the outlet reported.
This effort includes planting seagrass meadows and seaweed forests, reconstructing oyster reefs, and removing excess sea urchins to help improve carbon capture and biodiversity and cut the impact of nutrient runoff.
"There's so much more focus on the ocean now — it has been neglected a lot and is one of the most underfunded sustainable development goals," Purina Europe director of corporate communications and sustainability Kerstin Schmeiduch told Trellis. "It's 70% of our planet. What is great to see is that a lot of start-ups have been building over recent years."
The initiatives are in their research phases and will be scaled up starting in 2026.
Purina hopes to chart a course for other sustainable brands in the sector. In July, the UK approved startup Meatly's lab-grown chicken, and pea and insect proteins are being developed as other meat alternatives in pet food.
"We and other private sector companies could pool resources, knowledge, expertise — there's so much going on, so much science," Schmeiduch said. "How do we bring that together and facilitate collaboration to tackle common challenges?"
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