Harvest House has once again been certified Climate-Neutral. "We can, thus, deliver our tomatoes, bell peppers, and cucumbers with a climate label," says Jelle Posthuma, Environmental Specialist at this Dutch cooperative.
Harvest House first obtained the certification in February 2023 and recently successfully passed the second audit. "Our efforts to offer certified products have been found sufficient." An independent party tests and issues the Climate-Neutral Certified label. It proves that Harvest House has an overview of its products' CO2 emissions, which it must ambitiously reduce annually and can compensate for the remaining emissions.
Implementing reduction plans
According to Jelle, Harvest House understands its products' current environmental impact well. "We use Hortifootprint, a calculation method that gives us insight into our products' Eco-score. We not only focus on climate change due to CO2 emissions but consider 16 different impact categories. Plus, our growers and we set up plans to reduce our products' environmental footprint. We want to emit 50% less CO2 equivalent per kg of product by 2030 than in 2020. Our ultimate goal is to cultivate climate-neutral by 2040," he says.
Compensation
"Unfortunately, it's not yet feasible to do so CO2 emission-free, but we're working hard on it. Until then, according to the Climate-Neutral Certified program criteria, we can compensate for the remaining emissions and achieve reduction goals. Together with our growers, we keep cutting emissions. That means the part that needs to be compensated shrinks."
"And costs are lower. Customers looking for fruit and vegetables that affect the climate less are at the right place at Harvest House. Together, we can make these Climate-Neutral Certified products truly available to consumers. All Harvest House growers can have their standard products certified," Jelle concludes.
For more information:
Harvest House
415 Honderdland
2676 LV, Maasdijk, NL
Tel.: +31 (0) 174 519 200
[email protected]
www.harvesthouse.nl