All Arla’s organic farmers switch to green electricity
The organic farmers at Arla, Denmarks biggest producer of diary products, wants to cover all their energy consumption by renewable energy consumption from the first of January 2019. Organic shareholders themselves have taken the initiative as part of reducing CO2 emissions as much as possible.
In the future, the electricity consumption of Arla’s 300 organic Danish farmers will be covered by certified green electricity. The requirement for green electricity will come into force from the first of January 2019.
“Our organic farmers have jointly decided that our electricity consumption should be covered by 100% green electricity from renewable energy in the future. We do this to ensure that we actively participate in promoting the development and use of certified green electricity in order to support sustainable agriculture. We believe that it will create value for the environment and for all Arla owners.” says Viggo Ø. Bloch, chairman of the organic board at Arla.
Certified green electricity is included in the organic farmers contracts
In practice, the decision means that from the first of January 2019, Arla will only accept organic milk from shareholders who use green electricity. Therefore, it will be added to the organic farmers contact that they must purchase a certificate of green electricity covering the farm’s annual electricity consumption.
electricity consumption on the organic farms must be based on renewable energy sources
The shareholder buy a green electricity certificate at a power company that can guarantee a year’s consumption of green electricity on the individual farm. The certificate will be submitted to Arla before the first of January 2019. This means that many organic farmers will already switch to green electricity in 2018.
Farmers will also follow the recommendations of the Organic Council and buy green electricity in class A or B. In short, this means that Arla’s organic farmers choose their green electricity from the product classes that has the least negative impact on the climate.
The milk becomes even greener
Arla’s Danish CEO, Jakob B. Knudsen, welcomes the initiative of organic farmers and is grateful for organic farmers to move further in their efforts to reduce their carbon footprint.
“It is a strong signal that the shareholders will contribute to making the milk even more climate-friendly. It goes hand in hand with our other initiatives in Arla, where climate-friendly production is at the top of the agenda. That is why we back up the decision of the shareholders, and green electricity will now be part of the contract with the organic farmers. ” says Jakob B. Knudsen, Country Director in Arla Denmark.
Source: Organic Supply
Want to know more about organic production in the Danish food cluster? Take a look here.