Sustainable Sugar
Securing the sustainability credentials of Queensland raw sugar
CANEGROWERS continues to position the industry to meet the emerging demands for sugarcane production that is certified as meeting standards for environmental and social sustainability. These demands arise from:
- Demand for sustainably produced raw sugar in certain markets. While this demand currently represents a relatively small tonnage, it is expected to grow steadily.
- Proposed mandatory reporting by businesses of their financial exposure to climate risk, which will include their own emissions and those of their suppliers and customers.
- Expected pressure on financial institutions and other services to favour customers that can demonstrate their environmental and social sustainability.
CANEGROWERS sees Smartcane BMP as the preeminent sustainability program and certification standard for Australian sugarcane production. Smartcane BMP meets the needs of local and global sugar stakeholders and continues to position the industry as a global leader on sustainable sugarcane agriculture.
Key areas of work:
- Promoting and supporting participation in Smartcane BMP
- Ensuring Smartcane BMP is fit for purpose, including certification for indicators of social sustainability (e.g. labour management, WH&S)
- Demonstrating how Smartcane BMP meets and exceeds the sustainability frameworks of the supply chain, the financial sector, and other key stakeholders
- Developing capacity to track and report the production and sale of Smartcane raw sugar on a mass balance basis
- Developing capacity to report the sustainability profile of growers in each region, including trends in emissions intensities and compliance with standards for labour management and workplace safety
CANEGROWERS sees the industry-led best management practice program, Smartcane BMP, as the preeminent sustainability program and certification standard for Australian sugarcane production.
Smartcane BMP meets the needs of local and global sugar stakeholders and continues to position the industry as a global leader on sustainable sugarcane agriculture.
CANEGROWERS promotes and supports grower participation and accreditation in the program.
Through accreditation growers can demonstrate the sustainability credentials of their individual businesses, while also contributing to the industry's overall sustainability goals.
Smartcane BMP is administered by CANEGROWERS with funding support from the Queensland Government.
The program has been acknowledged by international sugar sustainability gatekeepers Bonsucro and VIVE as meeting their sustainability criteria. It is also a central pillar of the industry's diversification and trade strategies.
CANEGROWERS ensures the program is fit for purpose, including:
- Certification for indicators of social sustainability (e.g. labour management, WH&S)
- Meeting and exceeding the sustainability frameworks of the supply chain, the financial sector, and other key stakeholders
CANEGROWERS, together with KPMG, has developed the Origins traceability platform which, through the use of blockchain technology, enables buyers of Queensland raw sugar to trace its provenance through the supply chain from paddock to end product.
The platform, which operates on a mass balance system, has already been successfully used in the shipment of Smartcane BMP accredited raw sugar to the United Kingdom.
How does mass balance work?
Raw sugar is stored in bulk handling facilities, where Smartcane BMP accredited and non-accredited sugar is intermingled. While the vast majority of Queensland sugarcane is sustainably grown, only the portion of sugar produced from accredited sugarcane can be certified as sustainable. Buyers pay a premium to purchase certified sustainable sugar. While the physical sugar they receive will be a mixture of certified and non-certified sugar, the entire load is counted against the overall portion of certified sugar in storage.
For example: Imagine 100 tonnes of raw sugar are stored in a bulk storage facility. Of this 100 tonnes, 40 tonnes have been produced from Smartcane BMP accredited sugarcane. Those 40 tonnes are certified as sustainably produced. This means that 40% of the entire stored sugar is certified.
If a buyer pays a premium to purchase 30 tonnes of certified sustainable sugar. Their load will in fact be made up of certified and non-certified raw sugar, but they can claim the entirety as sustainable. In turn, the balance of certified sugar available for purchase from the remaining 70 tonnes in storage is now just 10 tonnes.
Enhancing the traceability of sustainably grown Australian sugar to improve access to international markets using blockchain technology has concluded.
CANEGROWERS worked with KPMG Australia to prototype and develop the sugarcane traceability platform using blockchain technology and mass balance calculations to trace sustainable sugar entering the supply chain from Australia.
On 18 November 2022, the first shipment of fully traceable, sustainably produced raw sugar was loaded for export at the Port of Townsville. The 25,000 tonne shipment linked sugar produced from sugarcane grown by Smartcane BMP accredited growers to a buyer in South Korea and provided traceability from the bulk sugar terminal to the customer. Future opportunities for the platform include carbon markets, sustainable finance and supporting the ESG needs across the supply chain.
CANEGROWERS, together with Sugar Research Australia, is developing the capacity to report the sustainability profile of growers in each region, including trends in emissions intensities.
Work in this area has already revealed that growers in the Smartcane BMP program have already, on average, reduced their emissions intensity to below 2005 levels.
