The latest news, trends, analysis, interviews and podcasts from the global food and beverage industry

Food and beverage businesses are being urged to join a new international alliance developing a common standard for measuring the greenhouse gas footprint of individual products.

The Global Sustainable Transition Alliance (GSTA), convened by WRAP and Wageningen University & Research (WUR), is seeking to tackle what it describes as a lack of consistency in product footprinting across the food and beverage supply chain.

Launched in March 2026, the alliance brings together food businesses, retailers, NGOs, consultants and product footprinting technology providers. Its aim is to create a single, scientifically robust set of rules for calculating product-level greenhouse gas emissions.

The initiative comes as food and beverage companies face growing pressure to measure and reduce Scope 3 emissions across complex global supply chains.

GSTA argues that the use of different calculation methods, datasets and assumptions is making it difficult for companies to compare product footprints reliably.

The proposed standard will initially focus on greenhouse gas emissions and will align with established frameworks including the GHG Protocol, Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), Partnership for Carbon Transparency (PACT), ISO and Product Environmental Footprint (PEF).

The alliance intends to add greater sector-specific detail to these frameworks, with the goal of enabling comparable product footprints regardless of which organisation calculates them.

Koen Boone, coordinator of Sustainable Value Chains at WUR, said: “Companies need consistent data from their worldwide suppliers to calculate reliable numbers of the impact of their full supply chain (Scope 3). Currently, suppliers use many different methods and databases, which leads to inconsistent totals for the full supply chain. GSTA is going to address this.”

GSTA's founding members include major food and retail businesses and sustainability organisations, including Ahold Delhaize, Schwarz Group, Mars, Mondra, Global Changer, Inoqo, the European Sustainable Food Coalition, PACT, Systain Coalition, HowGood and Foodsteps.

The alliance is now calling for more businesses to join the initiative, with WRAP and WUR arguing that wider industry participation will be critical to developing a standard that can work across different markets and supply chains.

Sofie Schop, executive director, EU & global partnerships director at WRAP, said: “We want this standard to benefit businesses of all sizes and capabilities, providing consistency and efficiency for the industry across the globe. Together, we want to create a shared foundation for comparable data to create faster, more informed decisions that drive measurable emissions reductions across the food and beverage industry.”

The alliance's ambition extends beyond making carbon calculations easier to compare. Its backers argue that more consistent data should allow companies to identify where interventions across the food supply chain can deliver the greatest environmental gains.

Ahold Delhaize's climate and environment vice president Grant V. Sprick said greater alignment on how environmental impacts are estimated could help companies focus action across their value chains.

“A common standard for product footprinting helps ensure consistency and keeps efforts focused on the areas where action can deliver the greatest impact,” he said.

Michael Löscher, climate strategy lead at Schwarz Corporate Affairs, added that harmonised product emissions data would be important in translating climate commitments into measurable progress.

GSTA is not seeking to replace existing international frameworks. Instead, the alliance says it will build on them by developing food and beverage-specific rules with a higher level of specificity.

Naama Avni-Kadosh, director of PACT at the World Business Council for Sustainable Development: “Sector initiatives like GSTA add the specificity that food and beverage companies need, while PACT provides the common data infrastructure that keeps those efforts interoperable."

The initiative is supported by international NGOs including Consumers International and PACT, which is hosted by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development.

Top image: © WRAP