Really environmentally friendly or gimmick? Reveal how "carbon-neutral" mooncakes were formed

As the Mid-Autumn Festival approaches, the mooncake market is a hot seller, with mooncakes of various new flavors appearing one after another.

Among them, a special "carbon-neutral" mooncake stands out among many mooncakes because of its green and environmentally friendly attributes-it is the domestic organic food provider Zhenggu (Beijing) Agricultural Development Co., Ltd.(hereinafter referred to as Zhenggu Agriculture) and Carbon Block jointly launched Zhenggu carbon-neutral organic mooncake. All carbon footprint information of the product from raw material production to distribution can be clearly viewed on the packaging box.

How are "carbon-neutral" mooncakes produced? Compared with traditional mooncakes on the market, what are the advantages? How is the carbon footprint of each link calculated? Will "carbon-neutral" food become the mainstream trend in the future industry? In this regard, a reporter from China Environment News conducted an interview.

The ingenious "plan" behind a box of "carbon-neutral" mooncakes

How are "carbon neutrality" mooncakes achieved? Does it mean that there is no pollution in all aspects of production? Zhao Huijuan, partner of Zhenggu and general manager of zero-carbon solutions, told reporters that "carbon-neutral mooncakes" are not the same as "zero-carbon mooncakes". In principle,"zero carbon" refers to achieving zero carbon emissions in all links. For most production scenarios, it is almost difficult to achieve. In view of this, it is necessary to start from the production process of mooncakes during the life cycle and reduce emissions at the source as much as possible.

"The 'carbon neutral' organic mooncake we launched is a voluntary emission reduction through purchase after the product has made the best efforts to reduce emissions throughout the entire life cycle from raw materials, transportation to production, distribution, etc. The carbon credits of the project have been offset and achieved neutrality." Zhao Huijuan said that "carbon-neutral" mooncakes are closer to the "carbon-neutral" business model adopted in the production process, making mooncakes environmentally friendly.

Taking this year's organic mooncake called "Heart Like Bright Moon" collaborated by Zhenggu Agriculture and Carbon Stop as an example, Zhao Huijuan introduced to reporters in detail the ingenious "plan" behind a box of "carbon neutral" mooncakes.In the raw materials process of this box of mooncakes, more than 95% of them are organic food, which is obtained from self-operated organic farms or organic agriculture methods. For example, itsThe raw materials of rose summer coffee flavor come from sustainable coffee farms that have long carried out sustainable production practices. They use agricultural and forestry compound, shaded slope planting, physical pest control, etc., and use waste peel and pulp to ferment as fertilizer; the chocolate flavor raw material cocoa comes from family farms in mixed forest ecosystems.

In the production process, the production process is improved to save raw materials, improve production efficiency, and reduce waste emissions and energy consumption. We will also try our best to choose clean energy, use green electricity to support production, and maximize energy conservation and emission reduction.

In the packaging process, environmentally friendly fast-growing tung wood is used for packaging, and is spliced with a tenon and mortise structure to reduce gluing and facilitate storage and recycling. The waist seal also uses environmentally friendly materials, such as using FSC responsible paper; the instructions are printed with soy ink to reduce pollution caused by the evaporation of harmful substances.

"In addition, new energy vehicles that cooperate with express delivery companies are also used for the distribution of products from factories to warehouses to consumers." Zhao Huijuan told reporters that although efforts have been made to reduce carbon emissions in all aspects of production, there will still be carbon emissions throughout the entire process of the birth of a mooncake.

According to carbon stop calculations, a box of 480 grams and 8 grains of "Heart Like Moon" mooncakes produces a total of about 1.59 kg of carbon emissions. The raw material process produces 1080g of carbon emissions, the packaging process produces 295.9 g, the product production process produces 127.6 g, the product transportation stage 78.2 g, and the product distribution stage 5.1 g.

"Following carbon footprint accounting, we have some understanding of the carbon emissions of the entire product process. For links that cannot be reduced or eliminated, we choose to purchase carbon emissions through the carbon trading market to offset them. This is the realization of 'carbon neutrality' for mooncakes." Zhao Huijuan said.

To calculate the "carbon account" scientifically and transparently, we must consider all aspects of the entire life cycle

So how are the carbon footprint data of each link disclosed on the mooncake box scientifically calculated?

"The carbon emissions of mooncakes need to comprehensively consider all aspects of the entire product life cycle such as raw material selection and supply acquisition, production and production, packaging design, product transportation and distribution. The combination of these factors makes carbon value calculation a complex task." Fu Chenjie, the operation manager of carbon stop products, gave reporters an example. Taking the above-mentioned mooncakes as an example, they contain five flavors. In addition to the main raw material, wheat, there are also dozens of high-quality ingredients from all over the world. The diversity of raw material sources has undoubtedly increased The difficulty of tracking; and the production of mooncakes involves multiple steps, and the energy types used in each process are also different. The use of these energy sources and carbon emission factors require detailed statistics; Diversified transportation methods and packaging of different materials are also difficulties in carrying out accounting.

Fu Chenjie introduced that they mainly conduct calculations based on the two standards of ISO14067 and PAS2050, and the final results are also disclosed to consumers and stakeholders in the form of carbon footprint labels, making it convenient for users to view the carbon emissions at each product life cycle stage.

"Behind a delicious 'carbon-neutral' organic mooncake, there are obvious costs such as carbon sink costs and high-quality raw materials, as well as potential costs such as time, communication, education, manpower, and management." Zhao Huijuan gave an example. For example, the time cost includes the time for collecting data, calculating data, and verifying; the communication cost involves multiple entities such as raw material manufacturers, packaging manufacturers, accounting agencies, and verification agencies, which is relatively complex; the education cost,"carbon neutrality" mooncakes are a new thing that many consumers don't know about. They need to increase science popularization and publicity efforts to promote green consumption.

"Compared with ordinary mooncakes, the entry threshold for 'carbon-neutral' mooncakes is indeed higher, and a dedicated zero-carbon solution team is needed to organize and carry out it." Zhao Huijuan said, but these do not mean that they will become a burden on enterprises. Instead, they will open up new market tracks for enterprises and bring more orders for their "carbon-neutral" products. Behind this represents green, low-carbon, innovative and sustainable consumption concepts and behaviors continue to increase."

Zhao Huijuan revealed that so far, they have provided organic food gift services to more than 20,000 corporate customers such as Boston Consulting, Huawei, Vanke, and Vision, and provided organic food delivery services to more than 1.2 million families. In addition, taking "carbon-neutral" mooncakes as an example, the market demand for such products has been verified through real feedback from clients.

"In addition, in the process of business practice, we also continue to strengthen information exchange and value co-construction with partners and customers upstream and downstream of the value chain, work together to promote responsible production and consumption, and promote sustainable social development." Zhao Huijuan added.

Will "carbon-neutral" food become the mainstream trend in the future industry?

It is understood that Zhenggu Agriculture has been making organic food since the establishment of the company in 2007, carrying out sustainable production practices, sharing organic, carbon-neutral, and natural delicacies that protect biodiversity, and promoting it from the production and consumption sides. Environmentally friendly.

"Climate change and sustainable development issues have become topics of global concern. Consumers 'demand for low-carbon and environmentally friendly products continues to grow. As one of the important sources of global greenhouse gas emissions, the food industry has huge emission reduction potential. Therefore, promoting this industry Low-carbon transformation is not only a necessary move to respond to the global call for emission reductions, but also a strategy to meet market demand and enhance corporate competitiveness." Zhao Huijuan said thatChoosing organic agricultural production methods is an important path to achieve "carbon neutrality".

"Carbon neutrality" is now changing from an abstract concept to something within reach in life. As a new development concept, it has quickly become a hot topic of social attention in a short period of time. As far as the food industry is concerned, many consumers have doubts about whether this business method that combines "carbon neutrality" with food will become a mainstream trend in the food industry in the future.

Zhang Youting, co-founder and vice president of Zhenggu Agriculture and expert of China Organic Product Certification Technology Working Group, has his opinions on this issue. "With the country's top-down implementation of the 'double carbon' concept, the economic development model led by 'carbon neutrality' will surely affect every industry. Therefore, in the future, more companies will actively or passively join the path of 'carbon neutrality' organic development. However, whether the development model of 'carbon-neutral organic food' will become a mainstream trend in the food industry in the future remains to be considered." Zhang Youting said that it should be pointed out that it is not impossible to influence more companies through this concept and embark on a similar development path.

"Compared with the industrial sector, the combination of 'carbon neutrality' and the food industry needs to be more comprehensive." Zhang Youting said that in the industrial field, an improvement in industrial technology may lead to earth-shaking innovations in the entire industry, thereby reducing the industry's carbon emissions as a whole. But for the food industry, the reduction of carbon emissions needs to be reflected in every production link, including the entire process from crop planting to product processing.

Moreover, food producers need to withdraw a portion of the profits of their products to offset the carbon emissions generated during the production process. Although this proportion is not large, it still increases the production cost of goods, which in turn leads to an increase in product prices and affects consumers. group. Moreover, consumers should usually choose to purchase products after understanding and accepting the concept of "carbon neutrality", which actually screens consumer groups.

"In the future, with the active guidance and support of government policies, the continuous promotion of technological innovation in the industry, the continuous promotion of green consumption by the country, the gradual improvement of consumers 'awareness of environmental protection, the collaborative cooperation of upstream and downstream enterprises in the industrial chain, and the improvement and establishment of carbon-neutral food standards and certification systems, I believe that the industry will usher in vigorous development." Fu Chenjie added.