Huh?

The food industry continues to seek out measuring sticks for sustainability. Note the following Nov. 7 press release concerning packaged goods from the Grocery Manufacturers Association. The news release describes research to determine the environmental "footprint" of a typical consumer's average weekly grocery purchases. I wonder how much of this market basket measurement tool will be shared with consumers, clearly a "stakeholder" in this issue. An environmental footprint measurement will tend to devalue certain high value items in a grocery store - meat for example - and how that process dovetails with the business interests of retailers escapes me. Unless retailers and marketers are serious about making this scoring system a key purchase criteria for all goods sold in their store (let's get rid of bottled water while we are at it), then such a scoring system should be tabled and replaced with a commitment to earth-friendly policies - but without hanging environmental blame on a particular product or group of products.

The Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA) today announced the selection of McKinsey & Company, Inc. to conduct landmark research on behalf of the industry into the environmental footprint of consumer packaged goods. The Market Basket Measurement Tool for Sustainability, a project of the GMA Sustainability Leadership Committee, will seek to establish the environmental footprint of a typical consumer’s average weekly grocery purchases, setting key benchmarks against which the industry can measure the progress of sustainability initiatives going forward.

“McKinsey & Company has made a major commitment to be an unparalleled thought leader in the area of sustainability and brings a deep expertise in both CPG and retail industries to the project,” said Stephen Sibert, GMA senior vice president of industry affairs. “We are pleased to be building on our already strong partnership with McKinsey.”

The Market Basket Measurement Tool for Sustainability will analyze key data from a lifecycle perspective to estimate the environmental impact of a representative consumer market basket of CPG products in areas such as energy use, water use and greenhouse gas emissions. The study will determine the footprint of the same set of products 5-10 years ago as well as today, and will make projections as to the expected future impact. The end result will outline the evolution of CPG products’ environmental footprint, communicate to stakeholders the progress that the industry has made, and help define reasonable expectations for the future.

“The industry is rapidly moving forward with leadership and execution of sustainable business practices,” Sibert continued. “The Market Basket Measurement Tool will provide thought leaders with insights that will further their sustainability initiatives and help consumers and other key constituents understand just how far the industry has come and where we are going.”