Source: Global Sustainable Transition Alliance, WRAP and Wageningen University & Research
- The Global Sustainable Transition Alliance (GSTA) is creating an international GHG product footprinting standard for the global food and beverage sector.
- WRAP and WUR call on businesses to join the alliance and help build a stronger and more consistent GHG footprinting standard with GSTA.
- New international standard aims to move sector beyond confusion over product footprints and towards reducing negative environmental impacts.
The Global Sustainable Transition Alliance (GSTA) convened by WRAP and Wageningen University & Research (WUR) is an international alliance of businesses, NGOs, consultants, and product footprinting tool providers launched in March 2026. GSTA – is calling on all food and beverage businesses worldwide to support it in creating a single, scientifically robust rulebook for calculating product level environmental footprints for the food and beverage sector.
The alliance now wants to engage with more businesses to expand its reach and ensure alignment across its founding members, including Ahold Delhaize, the companies of Schwarz Group, Mars, Incorporated, Mondra, Mondra Coalition, Global Changer, Inoqo, European Sustainable Food Coalition, Partnership for Carbon Transparency (PACT), Systain Coalition (coalition members are also Rewe Group and EDEKA), HowGood and Foodsteps.
Initially focusing on GHG emissions, GSTA will align and conform with major frameworks such as the GHG Protocol, SBTi, PACT, ISO and PEF – adding a high level of specificity and detail, to enable genuinely comparable product footprints, regardless of who is calculating them.
The development of a single footprinting global standard will save the food and beverage sector time, money and deliver consistent data reporting. Its development is supported by international NGOs including Consumers International and also the Partnership for Carbon Transparency (PACT), which is an initiative hosted by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD).
Sofie Schop, Executive Director, EU & Global Partnerships Director at WRAP, said:
“It has been hugely exciting to partner with Wageningen University & Research to establish this alliance for the food and beverage sector. By joining GSTA and our leading founding members, your business will be part of the first global industry-wide alliance to develop a single global footprinting standard. We want this standard to benefit businesses of all sizes and capabilities, providing consistency and efficiency for the industry across the globe. Together, we want to create a shared foundation for comparable data to create faster, more informed decisions that drive measurable emissions reductions across the food and beverage industry.”
Koen Boone, Coordinator Sustainable Value Chains at WUR said:
“Companies need consistent data from their worldwide suppliers to calculate reliable numbers of the impact of their full supply chain (scope 3). Currently suppliers use many different methods and databases which leads to inconsistent totals for the full supply chain. GSTA is going to address this.”
Naama Avni-Kadosh, Director, Partnership for Carbon Transparency (PACT) at WBCSD said:
“PACT is proud to be a founding member of GSTA. Global supply chains inherently cross industry boundaries, so credible carbon data has to as well. Sector initiatives like GSTA add the specificity that food and beverage companies need, while PACT provides the common data infrastructure that keeps those efforts interoperable. Harmonization across initiatives isn’t a nice-to-have. It’s what lets a footprint calculated once be trusted and reused everywhere, from farm to retail shelf.”
Grant V. Sprick, P.E. VP Climate & Environment at Ahold Delhaize said:
“One of the most important things companies can do is use their influence across the value chain to drive positive change. Better farming practices, improved livestock management, and more efficient processing are just a few examples of where collaboration make a significant positive difference. Equally important is aligning on how impact is estimated and quantified. A common standard for product footprinting helps ensure consistency and keeps efforts focused on the areas where action can deliver the greatest impact. We are excited to help shape a solution that can deliver value for businesses, suppliers and consumers alike.”
Michael Löscher, Climate Strategy Lead, Schwarz Corporate Affairs said:
“Turning climate targets into impact requires clear, measurable progress. Together with our partners at GSTA, we are establishing harmonized standards for transparent product emissions.”
WRAP and WUR are calling on businesses around the world to join GSTA and be part of the progression of this groundbreaking new alliance for the food and beverage industry.
Contact: gsta@wrap.ngo and visit www.wrap.ngo/gsta for more information.
Notes to editor
WRAP is a global environmental action NGO catalysing policy makers, businesses and individuals to transform the systems that create our food, textiles and manufactured products. Together these account for nearly 50% of global greenhouse emissions. Our goal is to enable the world to transition from the old take-make-dispose model of production to more sustainable approaches that will radically reduce waste and carbon emissions from everyday products. To do so we examine sustainability challenges through the lens of people’s day-to-day lives and create solutions that can transform entire systems to benefit the planet, nature and people.
WRAP has a legacy of GHG work internationally, driving major GHG reduction initiatives by targeting resource efficiency, waste prevention, and circular economy transitions in critical sectors like food and textiles. WRAP’s global work includes the Food Pact Network which convenes locally led, cross-border national food pacts (in Australia, South Africa and Mexico among others) to share tested solutions and slash greenhouse gas emissions.
The mission of Wageningen University & Research is “To explore the potential of nature to improve the quality of life”. Under the banner Wageningen University & Research, Wageningen University and the specialised research institutes of the Wageningen Research Foundation have joined forces in contributing to finding solutions to important questions in the domain of healthy food and living environment. With its roughly 30 branches, 7,700 employees (7,000 fte), 2,500 PhD and EngD candidates, 13,100 students and over 150,000 participants to WUR’s Life Long Learning, Wageningen University & Research is one of the leading organisations in its domain. The unique Wageningen approach lies in its integrated approach to issues and the collaboration between different disciplines.
Wageningen University & Research (WUR) has a long history of developing international sustainability measurement standards, through initiatives like Product Environmental Footprint (PEF), The Sustainability Consortium (TSC) and Eco Food Choice (EFC). WUR works intensively with the global food industry to improve sustainability of food supply chains.