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Bord Bia

What is Origin Green?

Origin Green is a national food and drink sustainability programme with a global ambition: to make Irish food and drink the first choice internationally because it is trusted as sustainably produced by people who care.

An Introduction

Led by Bord Bia, Origin Green is a voluntary programme that provides a framework and the expertise needed to drive sustainability improvements throughout the entire national food and drink supply chain. The programme is independently evaluated and verified at every stage, ensuring its credibility. Bord Bia actively encourages participation from farmers, food producers, manufacturers, retailers, and foodservice companies. Remarkably, Origin Green remains the world’s only national food and drink sustainability programme that operates across all sectors, from farm to fork. Origin Green focuses on three key pillars of sustainability: economic, social, and environmental performance. The programme delivers numerous advantages, such as fostering conscious farming practices, prioritising community involvement, and promoting sustainable food and drink production. These efforts collectively support the development of sustainable livelihoods. Currently, Origin Green collaborates with over 61,000 farmers and 300+ leading Irish food and drink companies to demonstrate and enhance sustainable food production, aligning with the evolving needs of customers and consumers globally. The programme enables farmers, manufacturers, retailers, and foodservice operators to drive sustainability enhancements through Sustainability and Quality Assurance Schemes and the Origin Green charters. To ensure the credibility of claims that Irish food and drink is sustainably produced, Origin Green employs accreditation and third-party verification. The programme remains adaptable and continually evolves to drive progress while simultaneously meeting the requirements of its customers.

Origin Green Membership

Providing programmes for farmers, producers, manufacturers and retailers, the Origin Green programme is independently monitored and verified. Verified Origin Green members account for 90% of our food and drink exports and over 70% of our domestic retail market. Accreditation at farm-level is provided to ISO: 17065 and Carbon Trust (PAS 2050), while food and drink manufacturers are independently verified by international auditors, Mabbett. The benefits of Origin Green are more environmentally aware farms, an important focus on community and more sustainable food and drink production which ultimately contribute to sustainable livelihoods. This is what makes Ireland’s food and drink produce the first choice globally; it is trusted as sustainably produced by people who care.

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Behind the Programme

Finance Leaders Sustainability Programme

Accelerate sustainability within your organisation by learning the tools to ensure sustainability is incorporated into your organisations overarching business strategy and investment decisions.

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Progress Under Origin Green

Over a five-year period under Origin Green, over 367,000 carbon assessments took place on beef and dairy farms. Farms that joined the Sustainable Beef and Lamb Assurance Schemes saw an average of 8% reduction in CO2 per unit of beef produced. Farms that joined the Sustainable Dairy Assurance Schemes saw an average of 9% reduction in CO2 per unit of milk produced.

During this time food manufacturers delivered on average an 11% reduction in energy use per unit of output and a 17% reduction in water use per unit of output. They donated 4,717 tonnes of surplus food to FoodCloud, planted 9,261 trees on manufacturing sites and donated over €8m to community and charity organisations.

10 of the largest foodservice companies and retailers in Ireland are verified members of Origin Green. There has been good progress since the pilot launch in 2016, and Bord Bia aims to increase membership. 4 of the 5 biggest retailers are on board to drive their sustainability agenda forward as part of the Origin Green Retail & Foodservice Charter.

New additions to the programme such as the Farmer Feedback Report introduced in 2019 and the updated Origin Green Charter and the Farmer Sustainability Programme in development in 2020 will be important in accelerating future sustainability achievements by members of Origin Green.

The Ambition

The overall ambition of the Origin Green programme is that Irish food and drink is the first choice globally because it is trusted as sustainably produced by people who care. The programme aims to have farms and food and drink manufacturing businesses throughout Ireland sign up to the sustainability agenda, making measurable commitments to producing in a sustainable manner, with progress independently assessed and verified. Realising that no one country, sector or individual business can solely lead the move towards global sustainable production, Origin Green is committed to working with both domestic and international partners to improve performance through collaboration.

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