FEFAC Feed
Sustainability Charter
2030

At the XXIX FEFAC Congress on 25 September 2020 FEFAC launched its Feed Sustainability Charter 2030

The FEFAC Feed Sustainability Charter 2030 Charter is the European feed industry response to the EU Green Deal Objectives affecting EU feed and livestock production. The Charter includes five ambitions to contribute to more sustainable livestock and aquaculture production:

Contribute To Climate-Neutral Livestock & Aquaculture Production Through Feed
Foster Sustainable Food Systems Through Increased Resource & Nutrient Efficiency
Promote Responsible Sourcing Practices
Contribute to Improving Farm Animal Health & Welfare
Enhance the Socio-Economic Environment and Resilience of the Livestock & Aquaculture Sectors

The Charter contains concrete feed sector actions at EU and national level featuring animal nutrition solutions that can help increase the sustainability of livestock farming operations. They are aimed to provide meaningful answers to growing market expectations as well as to increased societal demands at EU and global level. On the road towards 2030, FEFAC will publish annual Feed Sustainability Charter Progress Reports, based on robust sector sustainability indicators, to measure how FEFAC members are implementing impactful, specific feed supply chain actions. All actions FEFAC perform under the header of its Sustainability Charter also link up with FEFAC’s commitment as a signatory to the EU Code of Conduct for Responsible Food Business & Marketing Practices.

See here for a two-pager explainer of the FEFAC Feed Sustainability Charter 2030

Charter Progress Report 2024

On 13 September 2024, FEFAC published its 4^th Feed Sustainability Progress Report, providing an overview of the past year’s FEFAC activities and deliverables in relation to the five ambitions that were included in the FEFAC Feed Sustainability Charter 2030, released in September 2020. These five ambitions jointly provide a comprehensive approach on how the European Feed Industry can contribute to the development of more sustainable livestock and aquaculture value chains. The past year was marked by discussions on the implementation of the EU Deforestation Regulation and the views on Open Strategic Autonomy for feed ingredients, while the FEFAC Annual Event in June 2024 was largely dedicated to market & regulatory drivers to increase the circularity and reduce carbon emissions of EU livestock production.

In the 4^th Progress Report, FEFAC also looks forward and included new commitments pertaining to each of the five ambitions for the years towards 2030. FEFAC considers that the initial commitments it included in the original Feed Sustainability Charter 2030 publication have been successfully delivered on and were subject to an update. FEFAC President Pedro Cordero: “Our updated commitments are well-timed with the start of the new, 2024–2029 legislative mandate of the European Commission. We demonstrate that the European feed industry is setting its own objectives to boost sustainable feed production and look forward to engaging with policy makers on these topics”.

The five ambition chapters are also linked up with the aspirational targets of the EU Code of Conduct for Responsible Business & Marketing Practices, of which FEFAC is a signatory since 2021.

Charter Progress Report 2023

FEFAC is pleased to announce the publication of its 3^rd Feed Sustainability Charter Progress Report. The publication is a special edition, dedicated to facilitating the implementation of the ambitions of the FEFAC Feed Sustainability Charter, originally released in September 2020. FEFAC takes advantage of putting additional attention on its earlier publication in June 2023 on Sustainable Animal Feeding Techniques, which was presented at the 30^th FEFAC Congress in Ystad, Sweden. FEFAC tries to draw the attention of all food chain partners to the existing feed industry solutions that are available to help our partners in the livestock value chain tackle the sustainability and food security challenges that we are collectively facing.

FEFAC President Pedro Cordero: “Three years after the original release of the FEFAC Feed Sustainability Charter, FEFAC seeks to further boost the progress in implementing its key ambitions, showcasing the innovative solutions the sector has to offer to assist the livestock sector with its transition towards more sustainable production systems. Many FEFAC members have in the meantime launched their individual sustainability agendas, roadmaps and action plans, with very dynamic value chain engagements at a national level.”

Charter Progress Report 2022

On 07 September 2022 FEFAC published its 2^nd Charter Progress Report 2022, providing an overview of the past year on the FEFAC activities and deliverables in relation to the five ambitions that were included in the FEFAC Feed Sustainability Charter 2030 released in September 2020. These ambitions jointly provide a comprehensive approach on how the European Feed Industry can contribute to the development of more sustainable livestock and aquaculture value chains. A key highlight was the publication “Circular Feed – Optimised Nutrient Recovery Through Animal Nutrition” in June 2022, which includes an invitation to regulators to proceed with a systematic review of legislative bottlenecks in the EU regulatory framework in order to facilitate a higher level of circularity in EU food systems through innovative animal nutrition solutions.

The 2^nd Charter Progress Report points out the importance of increasing the focus on Ambition V on the socio-economic environment and resilience of the livestock & aquaculture sectors in view of the severe conditions faced by the livestock sector, which endured the exacerbating effect of the Ukraine crisis of a global market rally for feed grains, which already started at the end of 2021. All recent events show that the sustainability of the food system is highly complex and requires a truly holistic approach, integrating the resilience of our EU agri-food systems and food security impacts as well as climate change and biodiversity targets. The EU needs to draw the right lessons from the Ukraine crisis, which clearly sets the priority on increasing the EU’s energy autonomy, but this must be done without undermining EU and global feed and food autonomy’s objectives.

Charter Progress Report 2021

On 10 June 2021 FEFAC published its 1^st Charter Progress Report 2021, which provides an overview of FEFAC activities and deliverables in relation to the five ambitions on how the European Feed Industry can contribute to the development of more sustainable livestock and aquaculture value chains. This kind of ‘progress reporting’ on FEFAC’s Feed Sustainability Charter 2030 will effectively be the preferred public annual reporting format in the road towards 2030. The public launch of the Charter in September 2020, providing in effect FEFAC’s response to the EU Green Deal Objectives and relevant UN SDGs, also initiated a series of webinars, including topics such as environmental footprinting, methane emissions from enteric digestion and animal nutrition strategies to enhance animal health & welfare.

A key milestone included in the 1st Charter Progress Report is the delivery of the upgraded FEFAC Soy Sourcing Guidelines in February 2021, which includes an operational solution to conversion-free soy sourcing. This was followed by the launch of the new FEFAC Soy Benchmarking Tool on ITC Standards Map on 9 June 2021, displaying the soy schemes and programmes that have currently passed the benchmarking process. The Charter Progress Report also includes a preliminary assessment on the use of non-human edible feed / non-food grade food ingredients by the European compound feed industry as well as providing for the first time EU-aggregate averages on feed conversion ratios for major farm animals and salmon.

The 1st Progress Report – Summary Edition can be also downloaded here.