Simple Swaps for Climate Change: Food Ingredients Can Make Meaningful Impact

Climate Week NYC Panelists Discuss Climate-Smart Alternatives for Food Service, Consumers 

As shoppers look to improve their environmental footprint and businesses work to reduce their Scope 3 emissions, Neutral Foods, the nation’s first carbon neutral food company, reminds individuals and companies alike that simple swaps to everyday food ingredients can make a big impact.

At Climate Week NYC this week, Neutral teamed up with one of its food service partners, Shake Shack, and with award-winning journalists Helena Bottemiller Evich and Muhammad Lila, to discuss how replacing milk with a carbon neutral alternative really “moo-ves” the needle on sustainability. A link to a full recording of the webinar is here. 

“With greenhouse gas emissions at an all-time high, dairy farming is the right place to start as cattle and the crops needed to feed them dominate agricultural emissions,” said Jim Jarman, vice president of product and commercialization, Neutral Foods. “That’s why we started with a basic idea: what if something as simple as a daily glass of milk could help solve our climate crisis? When we present viable options, business and consumers can contribute to radically reducing carbon emissions that pollute the atmosphere and cause it to trap heat, making our planet considerably hotter over time.”

Neutral currently offers organic whole and 2% carbon neutral milk at more than 2,000 stores from coast to coast. It also provides carbon neutral milk to food service partners, including Shake Shack, Stumptown Coffee Roasters and Gregorys Coffee which is now using Neutral milk in all its New York City-area locations.

“Nothing about switching over to carbon neutral milk disrupted our supply chain, it was truly a simple swap that made a lot of sense, “ said Corey Blumenthal, sustainability specialist, Shake Shack. “We can’t help solve the climate crisis by asking everyone to give up the foods they love like milkshakes and burgers, but we can source ingredients in a climate-friendly way that helps to reduce emissions.”