First name:
Sherry
Last name:
Xu
Class Year:
2022
Advisor:
Noah Planavsky
Essay Abstract:
More food companies are becoming carbon neutral, aiming to address and mitigate the significant amount of greenhouse gas emissions from the food sector and agriculture every year. A company’s claim that they are carbon neutral, however, cannot always be trusted. Here I conduct an evaluative assessment of 10 companies in the dairy, meat, and alcohol sectors in order to identify overlooked areas of their carbon neutral strategy that may detract from their overall carbon neutral claims and goals. I use this assessment to develop recommendations for carbon neutral efforts in the agriculture and food space going forward, as well as national policies and programs centered around climate-smart agriculture or emissions disclosure.