During a recent webinar, “How formulation drives sustainability in pet food production,” a poll of the participating pet food professionals showed 86% work for companies that have some sort of goals related to sustainability. However, in response to another poll asking if their companies had done any measurements of the environmental impact of their products, only 41% answered yes, while 44% said no (15% didn’t know).
Among the largest challenges for these companies, ingredient data ranked first at 40%, followed by calculation (of data) at 29%, formula data at 14%, organization at 11% and reporting at 6%.
Though technically these were unscientific polls, they indicated one of the chief reasons that moving toward more sustainable products and practices, which more and more consumers seem to expect, is so complicated and difficult to achieve. At this stage, that seems especially true for the pet food industry, said Ian Mealey, product marketing director for formulation at Format Solutions and the webinar presenter. Pet food is behind agrifeed and human food in this regard, he explained; the good news is, he thinks it will eventually catch up.
Pet owner demand for sustainable pet foods
Unlike with pet food sustainability data, particularly for ingredients, there are data points galore showing consumer interest in sustainability. For example, NIQ’s new “Green Gauge Report” shows 32% of U.S. gen Z consumers say they take the environment into consideration in their purchase decisions all or most of the time, while consumers falling into the “glamour greens” category (people who “actively show off their green actions,” according to NIQ) now comprise 34% of the U.S. population.
Specific to pet owners, a 2024 global survey by Euromonitor International indicated 58% or more of respondents (depending on the region) agreed that they’re trying to have a positive impact on the environment; the percentage was often higher in developing regions than developed ones. And 65% of respondents said they worry about climate change.
Pet food carbon footprint data: All over the place, but help on the way?
The data is not so straightforward for pet food manufacturers and suppliers striving to be more sustainable. In the webinar, Mealey highlighted a few data points that vary widely depending on the source, region and method of measurement. For instance, a 2023 study from the University of Edinborough reported dry pet food contributed about 25% of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the U.S., while in the U.K., pet food accounted for only about 1.4% of emissions there, according to another U.K. study from 2024.
Similarly, ingredient carbon footprint data can vary considerably depending on the source, region and how they’re measured. Hence, the challenge for pet food companies identified by participants in the webinar — and meeting that challenge is important because for many companies, ingredients account for the largest share, often more than 50%, of their carbon footprint.
Yet it’s not a hopeless situation, Mealey emphasized. He recommended asking your suppliers for data on their raw materials; they may be tracking it toward their own sustainability goals and/or demands from other clients or retailers. In addition, trade groups are starting to collect carbon footprint data and compile it in databases.
One example lies in Europe with the Global Feed LCA Institute (GFLI); the European feed industry has developed a footprint standard and database within GFLI, and the European (EFPRA) and North American (NARA) rendering associations have both initiated GFLI projects collecting data and creating an environmental footprint for rendered animal byproducts used in the feed and pet food ingredient markets. The intent is to help the pet food industry compare the environmental footprint of those products with plant-based ingredients already in the GFLI database.
Also, the Pet Sustainability Coalition (PSC) has partnered with the HowGood database, allowing its members to make data-driven decisions on sourcing and formulations to reduce carbon emissions across their supply chains. An independent research company, HowGood performs product and ingredient-level sustainability assessments across eight key metrics: greenhouse gas emissions, blue water usage, biodiversity, soil health, labor risk, land occupation, animal welfare and processing.
(Note: Janjoris van Diepen, footprint director North America, Mérieux NutriSciences/Blonk Sustainability, will share information on the rendered ingredients database during Petfood Essentials 2025, which focuses on sustainability, on April 28; and Allison Burdick, sustainability analyst, PSC, will discuss her organization’s database.)
Roadmap: How to start your sustainability journey
Besides these databases — which, though nascent, promise to help soon — formulation software, such as that offered by Format Solutions, can help companies calculate their carbon footprint for their entire production process, not just ingredients. And, Mealey said, future optimization opportunities include incorporation of a life cycle analysis tool and possibly artificial intelligence into such software.
At the very least, Mealey’s message to webinar participants (and the pet food industry as a whole) was to not be intimidated by the complexity of striving toward sustainability; he advised not to wait for the perfect set of data but to just start somewhere.
His suggested roadmap: Understand your current situation (with whatever data you can obtain), work with your suppliers (for ingredients, production equipment, packaging, formulation software, you name it), assess reduction strategies and form an action plan.
