Pioneering sector-wide climate action in the flavor industry with IOFI

Over a three-year period, the International Organization of the Flavor Industry (IOFI) partnered with Quantis and eight IOFI member companies to develop a pioneering emission factor repository. By steering this pre-competitive initiative and aligning stakeholders, Quantis enabled the creation of a shared reference for non-proprietary ingredients commonly used in the flavor sector. This common resource now provides a transparent and consistent foundation for impact assessments and hotspot analyses, and paves the way for stronger and broader collaboration across the value chain.  

Challenge

The flavor industry is taking proactive steps to measure and reduce its climate impact, responding to increasing expectations from major CPG clients who are seeking detailed carbon profiles for high-impact ingredients that play a key role in their product portfolios. 

But the path was not straightforward. Companies lacked traceability (complex and fragmented supply chains) and homogeneity (with different approaches to the footprint calculation and generic emission factors). However, with Quantis’ external expertise, a common methodology based on objective criteria was agreed. 

The IOFI GHG Scope 3 Project involved developing generic points of reference for emission factors for the most commonly used ingredients in the flavor industry. It takes the form of a data repository containing these carbon-emission-factor reference points. The data repository will be accessible to IOFI members and non-members under fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory conditions. It will provide users with generic reference points and encourages sector-wide collaboration in a legally compliant way to address data gaps on emission factors. 

Solutions

Quantis served as an independent partner to coordinate and support the initiative. Together with IOFI and eight IOFI company members, the team: 

1. Helped participants define a shared ambition 
2. Built alignment on the methodology and on the list of ingredients covered by the initiative 
3. Centralized, validated and processed data 

4. Modeled emission factors based on collected data and scientific literature research 

5. Consolidated the results into a transparent, detailed and harmonized data repository 

With its deep expertise in life cycle assessment and a strong track record managing multi-stakeholder consortiums, Quantis acted as a trusted third party and helped foster collaboration across the sector. 

This project is a major milestone for the flavor industry — not only in terms of advancing environmental science, but also in fostering collaboration and transparency at scale. Quantis was essential in helping us turn this vision into a reality.” 

Sven Ballschmiede, Executive Director, IOFI

Results

The collaboration delivered a shared data repository that now serves as a reference for the sector, including: 

• A common methodology reviewed with participants 
• Emission factors for ~50 ingredients, split into 150+ archetypes with feedstock and origin specificity 
• A repository designed to be transparent, consistent and widely accessible 

Together, these outcomes provide the flavor industry with a credible, shared foundation for measuring impacts and advancing climate action together in a legally compliant way.