In Denmark, there is great focus on environmental performance in the production of pork. Today, two slaughter pigs are produced with the same environmental impact as one slaughter pig in 1985. The production’s climatic impact is calculated as a carbon footprint stating the total climatic impact of the entire value chain from the production of e.g. one kilo processed product. The climatic impact from pork produced in Denmark was in 2011 3.1-3.4 kg CO2 per kg meat from abattoirs.

The Danish food industry has long been in the process of a green transition where it has focused its efforts on producing more with less resources and less environmental impact based on a circular view where resources are recycled in biological and technical cycles and where new agro-industrial and biobased products are developed.

The food business operators have reduced their water consumption, energy consumption and CO2 emission

The food business operators in Denmark have in recent years reduced their use of resources through increased resource efficiency and have thereby succeeded in disentangling the production from its environmental impact. Thereby, a significant reduction has been achieved both when it comes to water consumption, energy consumption and CO2 emission.

The CO2 emission has been reduced through improvements in production, packaging and transport, e.g. the use of natural gas instead of oil for heating, reduction of packaging per product and more efficient transport through improved route planning and instruction of drivers in eco-friendly driving.