10 EU climate governance: how does the agro-processing chain respond to climate change? Climate adaptation of CarlsbergItalia Brewery

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/ he Hanyu / tr. by Phil Newell)

Compared with the impact adjustment of Mediterranean agriculture, less attention has been paid to the impact of agricultural processing chain. But this is probably not good news for regions that relied on processing and industry after the war and are famous for agriculture and food processing. Italy is such an example. Climate shocks in the agro-processing and rural industrial sectors particularly affect the livelihoods of rural Italy.

Generally speaking, rural settlements or regional economies with agricultural processing and manufacturing as the core often have different business types, equipment, management and management policies, so it is not easy to adjust to each other. It is difficult to respond to climate shocks with regional characteristics from the perspective of the settlement as a whole. However, the complex dynamic network of public hydropower, infrastructure and industrial chain involved in climate shock is not supported by a single enterprise alone. It needs to try climate adaptation planning step by step and repeatedly, and integrate a variety of policy tools.

IRIS's adaptation coaching proposal: a decision-making aid tool for both climate risk physical examination and enterprise adjustment consultation

The climate shock topic of the processing industry, in addition to the manufacturing process and the complex supply chain involved, the types of equipment and plant, personnel and infrastructure also vary with career characteristics. Therefore, climate adjustment actions in the rural industrial sector should give priority to the needs of different enterprises, cultivate the ability of enterprises to understand climate impacts and independently formulate adaptation actions, and enable users' opinions to be fed back to the regional level.

In this regard, IRIS plans to propose a set of guidance policies that can support enterprises to formulate climate adaptation decisions, promote small and medium-sized enterprises in rural areas, give full play to the characteristics of cluster and supply chain, and improve climate adaptability. The policy aims to help enterprises understand climate change and adjust their business and financial decisions. Based on the knowledge of several observation networks such as the climate index report, future climate regional prediction and model analysis of the Italian Environmental Protection Institute (ISPRA, Italian Institute for Environmental Protection and Research), the IRIS team designed a CAST tool platform (Climate Adaptation Support Tool) that visualizes climate risks and allows operators to customize their own strategies and coaching intensity.

Figure 1 CAST interface to help enterprises understand climate risks and provide adaptation recommendations (taken from IRIS adaptation Plan report p. 47)

First of all, through telephone interviews and online filling in basic information, the team has a preliminary understanding of the enterprises that intend to take climate action and their needs, and conducts training on climate change knowledge and CAST operation. Then, after the user sets the business characteristics, historical climate events and the location of the supply chain, the interface of CAST provides historical risk analysis and target weight adjustment suggestions to guide enterprises to make climate action decisions. In the decision-making process, enterprises can also decide whether they need to make an appointment for face-to-face expert consulting, technical and financing advisory services. Finally, CAST builds the decision-making effect of each enterprise into the system database for follow-up reference and communication between operators and users in the area.

With the tutoring tools and methods of CAST, the IRIS team set out from its own region of Emilia-Romagna, Italy, and selected an agro-processing enterprise and two rural industrial areas dominated by small and medium-sized enterprises to promote the plan.

Climate change in the processing Industry chain: an example of Carlsberg Italia Brewery in Italy

Italy is famous for its home-made fine agro-processed products such as olives and wheat, which is a major and key agricultural adjustment issue in the LIFE climate adjustment proposal from 2014 to 2018. However, the beer industry presents another aspect of Italian agro-processing. Due to the broken terrain, although Italy produces barley, it has few large areas of farmland and can fully supply the purchasing and manufacturing scale needed for beer processing. Therefore, the climate action of Carlsberg Italia Beer provides an adjustment path to help us think about how climate adjustment can be carried out when all kinds of raw materials rely on imported processes and complex supply chains.

Fig. 2 the beer brand Carlsberg is located in the factory area of Induno Olona, Italy (taken from the official website of Carlsberg Italia)

Beer is a seasonal and short-lived agricultural processing product, not only the flavor is related to the brewing freshness, but also the sales time is deeply affected by the off-peak season. Every summer is the peak season for beer sales. In order to sell fresh beer, the brewery's manufacturing time is concentrated in March to September each year, with June and July as the peak. However, the sudden high or low temperature will significantly affect beer sales, thus affecting the brewery's assessment of the overall production time, factory operation and employee demand.

Based on Carlsberg Italia's climate experience from 2013 to 2015, overall beer sales were first reduced by a 5 per cent increase in consumption tax, but the cooling effect of extreme summer rains was the main reason for the decline in performance in recent years. The problem caused by the low temperature in summer is that the production volume is higher than the sales volume, which causes the goods to be returned after the shelf life.

It is difficult to solve the dilemma of insufficient sales by donating limited quantities to food banks in the past, and we have to imagine the promotion strategies of bottled and canned beer, as well as long-term procurement, production assessment and logistics measures. In the face of various challenges, Carlsberg Italia began to think about how to start from each industry link to the management of sustainable beer (SustainaBEERity).

Climate Action in Carlsberg Italia Brewery: experience in adaptation decisions in response to CAST

When the heat wave hits or the precipitation is insufficient, the high temperature of the manufacturing process will not only cause energy consumption and capacity loss problems such as increased water demand and insufficient water supply in the factory, but also expose employees to a more dangerous and disease-prone working environment. it has evolved into labor welfare and physical and mental problems, which will affect the operation of the factory for a long time.