The challenge of making the global production and consumption of food more sustainable is becoming increasingly urgent. The growing world population and the even faster growing demand for environmentally intensive products is leading to the destruction of local and global natural capital. Natural areas are being reclaimed, agricultural land and water resources are being degraded, and the climate is changing. At the same time, a large proportion of the global population eat unhealthy diets. Some have too little food and are malnourished, while a growing number eat too much. This situation is unhealthy and quite simply unsustainable. Making the global food production and consumption system healthier and more sustainable presents a major challenge to governments, businesses and consumers alike.
The challenge: making the change to a sustainable and healthy society
Businesses, governments and civil society organisations are looking for ways to tackle this problem and define the contours of a healthy and sustainable society. We see a growing need for a clear, comprehensive assessment of the sustainability of agricultural products and foods.Growing need for a clear and comprehensive assessment
Blonk Consultants was established to support all organisations with a professional interest in this problem. We conduct sound and independent research to throw light on the issues, provide advice and tools, and supply answers and solutions. We are convinced this is needed to help policymakers and businesses make balanced and considered decisions. Accurate and clear information provides the essential basis for making the agri-food sector more sustainable and society healthier. .This is our mission and we pursue it with vigour!
Focus
Our expertise focuses on three topics crucial to resolving global sustainability issues.
Businesses must know how they perform on sustainability and healthy food. We provide advice on Sustainability Performance Management and develop tools for collecting, structuring and interpreting data.
Insight into the impacts of products is the basis for continually improving product performance. And it is an essential input to decision-making on things like the choice of alternative products and production routes. Life Cycle Assessment is a valuable tool for obtaining this information.
To make production and consumption chains healthy and sustainable, a range of data and knowledge on environmental impacts and the nutritional aspects of foods has to be pulled together. For this Sustainable Nutrition Assessment we have developed an analytical approach and tools for integrating this knowledge.
Sustainability Performance Management
Sustainable processes and sustainability reporting
Making your production and supply chains more sustainableThis depends crucially on first knowing your sustainability performance. Our tailor-made tools evaluate the sustainability of your products, policies and innovations. These data also form the basis for your sustainability reporting, for example according to the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Guidelines, or your scores in external and international benchmarks such as the Carbon Disclosure Project and the Dow Jones Sustainability Index.
Life Cycle Assessments
Sustainable products and production chains
Knowing the environmental performance of your products and production chainsLife Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a method for describing the whole life cycle of a product. All phases in the product's life cycle are analysed, from raw materials, packaging and transport to retail, consumption and waste processing – from cradle to grave. An LCA reveals the environmental impacts and where they occur in the chain (hotspots), allowing precise actions to be taken to improve processes and products. This can lead to savings in raw materials and energy use, in turn reducing costs.
Sustainable Nutrition Assessment
Healthy and sustainable diets
Producing foods for diets that are both healthy and sustainableBusinesses, governments and civil society organisations are all seeking ways to make our food more sustainable as well as healthier. We can help your organisation clearly identify the options available to achieve this. The answer lies ultimately in finding the right balance between the sustainability and the health of foods. We use optimisation techniques to obtain a greater understanding of how to improve diets with minimum changes to eating habits.
