The European Fruit Juice Association (AIJN) joined the European Pact for Sustainable Industry. In this interview, Wouter Lox, AIJN Secretary-General, shares his insights on the industry federation’s support of the Commission’s Green Deal.

THE VON DER LEYEN’S COMMISSION IS MOVING FORWARD TO MAKE EUROPE THE FIRST CLIMATE-NEUTRAL CONTINENT BY 2050. WHAT ARE THE SHORT-TERM AND LONG-TERM CHALLENGES YOUR SECTOR IS FACING AMIDST EUROPE’S DIGITAL AND GREEN TRANSITION?

The concept of sustainability is holistic and covers social, economic, and environmental aspects that are in an interdependent relationship with one another. It is not possible to consider only one aspect when you commit to sustainability.  This, in turn, requires a full value chain approach, both upstream as well as downstream, which might be challenging for international traded commodities like fruit juices.

When it comes to the Green Deal, the juice industry is committed to do its part and support Europe’s transition towards climate neutrality by 2050. However, this is a complex undertaking for such an internationally traded commodity - sourced globally from different regions, and involving different production, processing, and trading partners - and will require significant efforts from the whole value chain. In achieving carbon neutrality for the sector, every individual link of the value chain interacts and needs to share efforts.

The upstream production of fruit involves identifying and benchmarking the decarbonization pathways. This requires an in-depth analysis of the dynamic aspects that can contribute to the transition towards carbon neutrality, such as efforts to increase yields in agricultural production, overturn deforestation, manage the use of pesticides, improve water management and water retention, ensure soil management, and protect biodiversity, amongst others.

At the level of production of fruit juice concentrates, more efficient use of energy in the thermal process will have its impact on the reduction of direct emissions generated during the production and transformation processes. Although the sector is not at risk of carbon leakage, energy costs will play an important role in ensuring competitiveness and a level playing field within the industry.

Further down the value chain, when it comes to packaging, downsizing the consumer portion and limiting food waste will influence the contribution a sector can give to reaching this green transition. High-quality products require specific packaging properties, and the choice can be limited. The type of packaging material will influence post-consumer recycling and will have an impact on the reduction of carbon emissions in the supply chain

A sector can only succeed if all stakeholders involved at each stage of the value chain work together, also beyond the European borders. Most juices and concentrates in Europe come from fruits grown and processed in regions outside of Europe. Therefore, decarbonising transportation into Europe is relevant for the transition of the whole sector. This collaborative action amongst stakeholders of the value chain will also have to include aspects related to fair prizes and cost-sharing. In this context, a sector association can facilitate the engagement of the full value chain - upstream as well as downstream –in achieving decarbonisation.

The path to climate neutrality is indeed very long and challenging, but sector engagement can contribute to the transition.

YOUR INDUSTRY FEDERATION HAS not yet DEVELOPED A VISION 2050 but IS WORKING ON A SUSTAINABILITY ROADMAP 2025.  HOW ARE you CONTRIBUTING TO REACHING EUROPE’S CLIMATE NEUTRALITY?

AIJN is playing a critical role in bringing all the partners in the value chain together to define our sector’s contribution in reaching Europe’s climate neutrality.

The sustainability roadmap, yet to be established,  needs to be holistic, and cover economical, social, and environmental aspects. The role of AIJN in reaching climate (carbon) neutrality is to define within the value chain the critical contributors towards the neutrality of the sector. The drafting of the roadmap will lead to a prioritization of these contributors based on the impact and efforts required. This process involves also the identification of industry targets, the identification, and sharing of best practices. Furthermore, collaboration in drafting the roadmap will help to identify the challenges to carbon neutrality and remove the hurdles. Tracking progresses and defining corrective actions in case of deviations will be key to achieve this goal.

Collaborative cooperation needs to involve not only stakeholders from the whole value chain but also the  European Commission to ensure a competitive level playing field when a sector engages. There is a global aspect to the value chain: cooperation extends beyond Europe and CO2 does not stop at the European borders.

This roadmap will help individual companies to focus on their contribution, but it remains a sector project if the sector in its entirety wants to achieve the transition to carbon neutrality.

With the active engagement within and co-management of the Juice CSR platform, the juice sector demonstrated its ability to effectively engage in multi-chain cooperation and achieve sustainability goals across the juice supply chains.

ARE YOU ACTIVELY SEEKING COLLABORATIONS TO ENSURE THE UPTAKE OF THE ROADMAP/ACTION PLAN FROM YOUR MEMBER COMPANIES? 

Historically, the Fruit Juice industry has been working together to achieve common goals. Just as an example, AIJN drafted industry self-regulating reference guidelines - the AIJN Code of Practice (CoP) - to evaluate juices according to quality, authenticity, and identity regardless of their origin from inside or outside of Europe. These reference industry guidelines are accepted and used by the fruit juice processors and traders within the EU and around the world, by national food inspections as well as by industry controlling bodies. It is also acknowledged by the EU Commission.

Furthermore, AIJN was the co-initiative taker of the creation of the Fruit Juice CSR Platform, set up in 2013. This platform was a sustainability initiative specifically established for the fruit juice industry and endorsed and co-funded by the European Commission for its first 18 months of operation. The Platform enables companies to collaborate and deliver enhanced performance on social, environmental, and economic concerns, creating shared value throughout the supply chain.

AIJN also supported the Sustainable Juice Covenant, whose signatory companies committed to having 100% verified sustainable sourcing for juices by 2030. They work on the certification/verification of their supply chains, and jointly set up projects to address specific sustainability issues such as smallholder inclusion, working conditions, soil erosion and degradation, and climate resilience.

The success of these engagements lies in the cooperation with the full value chain. This means partnerships also with external stakeholders because they help to critically assess the vision and deliverables included in these preliminary sector sustainability roadmaps. It is an absolute requirement to be inclusive of external stakeholders alongside the value chain.

HOW IS YOUR SUSTAINABILITY STRATEGY/ACTION PLAN INFLUENCING THE DIALOGUE WITH THE COMMISSION? WHAT ARE THE TOP 3 EU POLICY PRIORITIES ARE YOU ENGAGING IN?

AIJN has 2 overarching priorities that are well aligned with the Farm to Fork strategy and stem from the DNA of the sector:

• Securing healthy and qualitative food products to consumers.

• Juices stemming from sustainable agricultural production.

The Fruit Juice sector is a contributor to the strategy and is in support of the Commission’s deliverables for 2024.

However, to deliver this contribution to the Farm to fork-strategy, the industry needs from the European Commission also a predictable legislative framework. Industry, as a stakeholder, favors the opportunity to have a dialogue providing transparency on the legislative implications being imposed on a sector. It has a practical transition time delivering the possibility to adjust on time to the legislative initiatives.

But also in this dialogue with the European Commission, the concerns and challenges of the industry should be considered when it comes to elaborate future legislative initiatives. Just to name one of the challenges, when informing consumers correctly about the nutritional contributions of juices, the sector should be given the possibility to use the claim “No added sugars” on juices in order to help consumers’ understanding and differentiate amongst beverages with added sugars and juices without added sugars. This provision is currently not allowed by the legislation for fruit juices. The farm to fork strategy aims to inform consumers correctly, helping them to achieve healthy diets, but this restriction imposed on juices is not enabling the consumers to be informed that no sugars are added to fruit juices.

Fostering the innovation needed to transition towards carbon neutrality requires funding.  Accessibility to European funding for innovative solutions is essential to assist the European industry to stay competitive in a globalized world.

AIJN as a responsible stakeholder will continue to foster an open, transparent, and constructive dialogue with the European Commission and all the stakeholders involved and seeks opportunities of cooperation to enable the sector to deliver according to the European sustainability action plan.

For more information:

Contact Marco Matrisciano, Project Manager

UPCOMING EVENTS

RELATED NEWS