Life-Cycle Assessment at KMC

Our commitment to sustainability drives us to understand our environmental impact through a data-driven life-cycle assessment and verified carbon footprints. Discover how our efforts support your decarbonization journey and contribute to a greener future.

At KMC, we are deeply committed to sustainability. We believe that the potato is a key player in the green transition. To support this belief, we take a data-driven approach towards our products, aiming to improve their capabilities while reducing their environmental impact. This approach benefits both our business and our customers' businesses.

Sustainability and carbon footprint calculations are constantly evolving fields. Although achieving perfection is not possible, we strive to transparently share our current knowledge while continually making improvements. Our calculations represent a significant step in the right direction, and with feedback from customers and partners, we are excited to progress further.

To reduce the carbon footprint on a societal level, KMC and our customers need to make informed choices about resource input for our products. At KMC, this involves investing in greener energy solutions and reducing energy consumption. For our customers, this might mean choosing a KMC product over an animal-based alternative.

The life-cycle assessment currently study the product impact from cradle to gate, covering farmers, internal processing, and production input as shown here in our value chain

This data is an average of the past three years and includes third-party verification. The figures can be used directly by our customers for carbon accounting or similar calculations.

For more details on the calculation methodology, see the summary of the LCA here.

As the first step, we have included the following three KMC products in our LCA: native starch, modified starch, and food protein. These figures represent weighted averages based on the past three years of data. The results are:

Impact hotspots

A deeper dive into the numbers shows the biggest impact within potato cultivation.

Currently, the calculations are based on average potato cultivation data, which does not reflect the actual impact of starch potato farming. Therefore, we are working to obtain data at the field level from the actual fields that supply KMC. This data will be incorporated into the life-cycle assessment of KMC products when available.

Potato starch is a good alternative

Life-cycle assessments are currently the best solution, considering the ever-evolving nature of this field. However, it is important to note that LCAs are not always directly comparable as methodologies vary.

When recalculating the KMC carbon footprint for native potato starch to align with the Starch Europe report, KMC’s native starch shows a 12% lower footprint compared to the native starch weighted average in the report (page 46).

Ensuring carbon reductions for our customers

As a second step, KMC has commissioned an independent third-party analysis to investigate the climate impact of food products made with potato-based ingredients compared to those made with animal ingredients. The analysis focuses on carbon emissions and energy consumption related to transport and production processes. It currently covers mayonnaise, confectionery, pizza cheese, and burger patties.

The results indicate that substituting animal ingredients with KMC’s potato-based alternatives generally leads to a reduction in carbon emissions. The extent of this reduction varies depending on the product type and ingredient composition.

What Can You Expect?

As a customer, you can expect KMC to continuously advance our sustainability and carbon footprint reduction efforts. Our commitment is to support you on your decarbonization journey.

We invite you to engage in dialogue with us to co-create the solutions of tomorrow.

Life-Cycle Assessment at KMC

Verified product carbon footprints

Impact hotspots

Potato starch is a good alternative

Ensuring carbon reductions for our customers

What Can You Expect?