Barry Callebaut has launched its first dairy partnership focused on reducing climate emissions, working with Arla Foods through the FarmAhead™ Customer Partnership program. The three-year collaboration will initially focus on skimmed milk powder sourced from the UK and represents a step forward in the decarbonisation of Barry Callebaut’s dairy supply chain.

Under the partnership, Arla will provide annual primary carbon footprint data at farm level linked to the dairy volumes supplied to Barry Callebaut. The data will support the company’s Scope 3 emissions reduction efforts while helping identify and accelerate decarbonisation initiatives across farms within the shared supply chain.

The collaboration forms part of Barry Callebaut’s broader Net Zero roadmap and its efforts to develop scalable low-carbon dairy solutions in cooperation with strategic suppliers. It also supports the company’s wider Net Zero Chocolate Solutions, which are designed to help customers reduce the end-to-end carbon footprint of cocoa and chocolate products through targeted supply-chain partnerships.

Tilmann Silber, Head of Net Zero at Barry Callebaut, said reducing emissions from dairy is an important part of lowering the company’s overall carbon footprint. He highlighted the partnership’s potential to increase transparency across the dairy supply chain and accelerate practical initiatives that can contribute to the company’s Scope 3 reduction targets.

The initiative brings together sustainability and responsible sourcing, with a focus on turning carbon measurement into action at farm level. Barry Callebaut said long-term engagement with suppliers and farmers will be essential to developing credible and measurable lower-carbon dairy sourcing solutions.

Gabriela Aramayo, Responsible Sourcing Lead Dairy at Barry Callebaut, said dairy is a particularly complex category to decarbonise and requires collaboration throughout the value chain. She added that connecting climate objectives with concrete farm-level action can help establish more effective and scalable approaches to lower-carbon dairy sourcing.

Arla Senior Director of Sustainability Innovation & Development Cathrine Konge Varming said the partnership will support the actions of Arla’s farmer owners to produce high-quality dairy efficiently while providing Barry Callebaut with valuable emissions data for its reporting. She described the collaboration as an example of how companies can work together to address emissions across the food chain.

Key elements of the partnership include primary farm-level carbon footprint reporting, alignment with recognised greenhouse gas and dairy carbon methodologies, and incentive payments for farmers implementing practices that reduce emissions.

As Barry Callebaut’s first dairy partnership specifically focused on reducing on-farm emissions and incentivising lower-carbon farming practices, the initiative is intended to establish a foundation for future collaborations and support the company and its customers in meeting their respective climate targets.