The Annual Barometer on climate strategies in the food sector is a joint initiative by Quantis and Carbon Maps, providing a data-driven view of how food companies are working to translate climate ambition into action.
As climate strategies mature, Scope 3 emissions are now widely recognized as central to overall impact. At the same time, market realities — including volume pressures, portfolio optimization trade-offs, and commodity cost volatility — are forcing many food companies to reprioritize amid profitability and cost-containment challenges.
Progress is increasingly shaped by practical constraints rather than technical ones. Data remains uneven across supply chains, supplier economics limit what can realistically be implemented in the short term, and climate strategy often sits apart from core business functions.
At the same time, growing pressure to protect margins and resilience is driving portfolio shifts and reprioritization, further complicating execution. In this context, scope 3 remains acknowledged, but structurally difficult to activate.
In 2026, scaling action will depend less on further diagnostics and more on how climate strategy is embedded into core business strategy — not only how it is governed, but how it is financed, owned, and translated into near-term business value. Clear accountability, cross-functional integration, and capital allocation will be critical to ensuring that the elements of sustainability that make short-term financial sense are the ones that endure through portfolio and business shifts.
The Barometer’s role is to capture this transition: to provide a grounded view of where the sector stands today, and to support more informed choices as climate considerations increasingly shape long-term business performance.
What you will learn:
- How CSR teams are currently organized, and why many remain stretched thin
- How far companies have progressed from footprint measurement to aligning supply chains with science-based targets
- Which drivers — including risk mitigation — are accelerating adoption, and which technical barriers are undermining operational confidence
- How much progress is being made on the implementation of Scope 3 and FLAG-approved roadmaps
Around 80 companies, including a strong participation from global market leaders, responded to this questionnaire. This international sample provides an overview of the maturity and emerging challenges across the entire food value chain.
