Companies’ Commitments Regarding Environmental Sustainability of Selected European Food Companies: A Case Study in Belgium and Ireland

Introduction: Food companies play a key role in mitigating the environmental impact of food systems. The Business Impact Assessment for Sustainability (BIA-Sustainability) provides a systematic approach to evaluate the specificity, comprehensiveness, and transparency of corporate sustainability commitments across ten policy domains. Methodology: We applied the BIA‑Sustainability to evaluate major food companies in Belgium and Ireland, across three sectors: packaged food and non-alcoholic beverage manufacturers, supermarkets, and quick-service restaurants (QSR). Each company was scored using publicly available information and, where possible, verified additional commitments through direct engagement. The assessment covered corporate strategy, packaging, emissions, energy, water and discharge, biodiversity, food waste, animal‑based products, environmental compliance, and sustainable products. Results: The analysis revealed considerable variation across companies and sectors. Belgian companies generally scored higher in emissions (median: 96%) and packaging (median: 66%) compared to those in Ireland (median: 44% for emissions, 36% for packaging). However, environmental compliance remained the lowest-scoring domain in both countries, with median scores of 0%. Sustainable products also showed significant variation, with Belgian companies reaching a median of 30% compared to 13% in Ireland. The assessment further highlighted the impact of direct engagement, with companies participating in the verification process achieving substantially higher scores. Conclusion: Our results emphasize the limitations of voluntary corporate disclosures and the need for independent verification, standardized reporting, and stronger regulation to ensure meaningful progress towards environmental sustainability in the food sector. Establishing clear, performance-based indicators and integrating third-party validation could enhance the credibility of corporate sustainability assessments and support broader accountability efforts.