Agrial has developed a transition plan that goes beyond climate issues
Sector
Expertise
Employee count
12,000 member farmers and 17,500 employees
View their website
https://www.agrial.com/
Agrial is a French agricultural and agri-food cooperative, founded and owned by 12,000 farmers who also supply the cooperative. The Group has more than 100 production sites in 11 countries and operates in the food and agriculture sectors, including dairy, vegetables, beverages, and meat.
In 2022, Agrial published its SBTi-certified climate plan for 2035: the group plans to reduce its total carbon footprint by 35% by 2035.
In 2025, the cooperative aims to go further and evolve its climate plan into a “transition plan” that includes initiatives complementary to reducing its carbon footprint, such as adapting to climate change, conserving water resources, and improving soil health and biodiversity. Agrial has structured this project around four main objectives:
- Explore the possibility of committing to the SBTi FLAG framework
- Ensure the plan is implemented internally
- Adopting a Systems-Based Approach to the Environment
- Motivate teams and recognize the group's efforts
Its guiding principle: to promote the agroecological transition from member-farmers to consumers.
In July 2025, Agrial therefore turned to Carbone 4 to evolve its climate plan toward a systemic approach capable of integrating cross-cutting issues.
Review of the Current Situation
Carbone 4 conducted a review of the existing climate plan (including current and proposed decarbonization measures), a competitive benchmarking analysis, and a macro-level assessment of the cooperative’s challenges related to adaptation, water, soil, and biodiversity.
A prioritization meeting was also held to select the activities to be considered based on their significance and their ability to embody Agrial’s mixed crop-livestock production model.
The new plan was developed entirely in collaboration with Agrial’s business teams, particularly those in the upstream agricultural sector, which are on the front lines of climate change and account for a significant portion of the cooperative’s environmental impact.
The Agrial and Carbone 4 project team has thus brought together some 30 employees, divided into various thematic working groups that reflect the diversity of the Group’s mixed farming model:
- Agronomy and Crop Production
- Animal Nutrition and Herd Management
- Agroecological Infrastructure (IAE), Energy, and Livestock Sectors
Carbone 4 consultants conducted seven bilateral interviews with representatives from various business units to gain a better understanding of the initiatives, their impact, and their level of technical and economic feasibility.
The work process then alternated between phases of discussion in working groups and plenary workshops involving all the experts. This approach made it possible to define priority areas of focus with the teams’ buy-in, while ensuring their operational feasibility.
Carbon Pricing of Actions
In addition to facilitating these interviews and workshops, Carbone 4 conducted a detailed assessment of the decarbonization potential of the identified actions, making it possible to quantify the actual effectiveness of the new climate plan.
The support provided led to the completion of a climate plan ready for implementation, structured around seven areas of commitment and approximately 40 monitoring indicators. This plan addresses all environmental issues related to the Agrial Group’s business segments.
A variety of courses of action:
The new climate plan consists of concrete actions, including:
- Improving the Efficiency of Animal Feeds
- Increase in the organic matter content of soils
- Reducing Water Consumption at Agri-Food Facilities
- Ensuring Good Animal Husbandry Practices
Governance that Supports Execution:
The direct involvement of business teams—beyond the CSR functions—has made it possible to establish a governance structure based on working groups that drive and steer the transformations in each branch of the cooperative.
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