Dole Food Company's Costa Rican subsidiary, Standard Fruit de Costa Rica, has signed an agreement to work on a project aimed at establishing a carbon neutral product supply chain for bananas and pineapples, from production sites in Costa Rica to markets in North America and Europe.
Under the deal, Standard Fruit de Costa Rica will work in collaboration with Fondo Nacional de Financiamento Forestal (FONAFIFO), the National Forestry Financing Fund and an entity of the Ministry of Environment and Energy of Costa Rica.
Through introducing a carbon neutral supply chain, US fruit and vegetable producer Dole said that the carbon dioxide (CO2) emitted to produce, pack, transport and distribute the fruit will be offset by mitigation practices which increase the capture of CO2 in order to achieve a ‘neutral’ balance. These practices entail new, more efficient transportation methods, changes to agricultural processes to reduce CO2 emissions, and partnering with local farmers to implement preservation and reforestation programs.
David DeLorenzo, president and CEO of Dole Food Company, said: The environment is a concern for all of us. Companies, consumers, governments and non-governmental organizations should endeavor to promote and adopt new production and distribution methods and consumption behavior in order to reverse harmful trends to the environment.
As the world’s largest producer and distributor of fruits and vegetables, Dole is determined to take the lead in its sector and the agreement with FONAFIFO is a good starting point.
Roberto Dobles, Minister of the Environment and Energy of Costa Rica, added: Dole is such an important company in the production of bananas and pineapples on a global level that we are very enthusiastic that Standard Fruit made the decision to strive to become a carbon neutral company here in Costa Rica and join our efforts to become the first carbon neutral country in the world by 2021.
With this agreement, Dole demonstrates its enormous capacity to innovate and develop processes that will be reflected in benefits to the environment. I hope that this initiative will be followed by others in the private sector, so that we may unite efforts in favor of the environment.