Why is food and beverage under increasing ESG pressure?
The food system accounts for roughly 26% of global greenhouse gas emissions. CSRD requires large food companies to report on environmental impact across their full value chain. The EU Green Claims Directive mandates verified data behind any sustainability claim on packaging. Retailers like Carrefour, Tesco and Mercadona are requiring supplier-level carbon data. And consumers are increasingly choosing products based on environmental credentials.
How does Dcycle handle agricultural supply chain emissions?
Agricultural emissions are the most complex part of food and beverage carbon footprinting. Dcycle uses recognised emission factor databases for crops, livestock, processing and logistics. The supplier engagement portal collects primary data from farms and processors using guided templates. Where primary data isn't available, the platform applies the best available secondary emission factors with full transparency on methodology and data quality.
Can Dcycle calculate the carbon footprint of individual food products?
Yes. Dcycle performs product-level Life Cycle Assessments covering ingredients, processing, packaging, distribution and end-of-life. You can compare recipes, assess packaging alternatives, and generate the data needed for environmental product declarations (EPDs) and product-level carbon labels.
What about water footprint and food waste?
Dcycle tracks water consumption, wastewater discharge and water intensity metrics per facility and per product. Food waste is tracked by category, production waste, packaging waste, product returns, with diversion rates and associated emissions. This data feeds both regulatory reporting and operational improvement programmes.
Which frameworks does Dcycle support for food and beverage?
Dcycle covers CSRD/ESRS reporting, GHG Protocol carbon footprinting, ISO 14040/14044 LCA, ISO 14001 environmental management, EcoVadis assessments, CDP disclosures and SBTi target setting. The platform also produces data aligned with the EU Green Claims Directive and retailer-specific sustainability reporting requirements.
Does CSRD apply to my food business?
Probably not directly. After the Omnibus package CSRD requires more than 1,000 employees and more than €450 million in net turnover, and reporting starts with financial year 2027. Most processors, bottlers and regional food groups sit well below that. What does reach you is everything on the other side of the threshold: the supermarket in scope that needs your figure for their Scope 3, PPWR on every format you place on the market, Green Claims on the pack from September 2026, EUDR if a regulated commodity is anywhere in your bill of materials, and RD 214/2025 if you are among the roughly 4,000 Spanish companies it names.
What does PPWR ask of a food producer?
Recycled content minimums, recyclability criteria and extended producer responsibility, assessed per packaging format rather than for the company as a whole. That means knowing the material composition and the weight placed on the market for every tray, film, label, cap and case, not an average. Most food companies already hold that data somewhere between purchasing and quality, just never in one place. Dcycle consolidates it so the declaration and the product footprint come out of the same record.
Can I still say sustainable or eco on my packaging?
From September 2026, only with evidence behind it. Directive 2024/825 removes generic environmental claims from the table unless they are substantiated, and a carbon neutral claim based on offsetting alone stops being acceptable. The practical consequence is that the claim has to trace to a calculation, and the calculation has to trace to primary data. Dcycle keeps that chain intact, so when legal asks where the number came from the answer is an invoice, not a consultant's deck.
How do agricultural cooperatives use Dcycle?
Cooperatives use Dcycle to collect environmental data from member farms through guided input templates. Each farm enters their own data, energy, fuel, fertiliser, water, yields, and the platform validates and consolidates into cooperative-level reports. This allows the cooperative to respond to client sustainability questionnaires and regulatory requirements on behalf of all members.
What about carbon sequestration and soil carbon?
Dcycle accounts for both emissions and removals in agricultural systems. Soil carbon sequestration from practices like cover cropping, reduced tillage and agroforestry can be quantified where robust measurement data is available. The platform follows recognised methodologies and transparently separates emissions from removals in all reports.