With AMPLIFY, Cristalco continues to raise sustainability standards in the sugar and alcohol industry

Launched three years ago, AMPLIFY unites the 9,000 farmers of the Cristal Union cooperative, its 14 industrial sites and the customers of its commercial entity, Cristalco, around the same objective: the continuous improvement of their environmental performance. Given its scope and results, AMPLIFY has now established itself as the most ambitious and successful sustainability programme in the sugar beet sector for sugar and alcohol production.

A continuous improvement programme with exemplary environmental performance

This year, the pioneering AMPLIFYsustainability programme has reached unprecedented levels:

– AMPLIFY’s sugar and alcohol greenhouse gas emission thresholds, which are 40-70% below the market average, are at their lowest level this year. This result is made possible by the outstanding environmental performance of Cristal Union’s industrial sites and our farmers.

– The volume of AMPLIFY sugars and alcohols produced using agroecological practices has reached an unprecedented high. Today, 20% of the sugar-beet fields farmed by the Cristal Union cooperative are cultivated using techniques aimed at improving the natural functioning of the soils, preserving biodiversity and adapting agriculture to global warming.

– Cristalco customers who choose AMPLIFY sugar and alcohols can thus rest assured that they are significantly reducing their Scope-3 greenhouse gas emissions and/or securing their supply of sugars and alcohols from agroecological crops, while financially supporting farmers committed to increasingly sustainable practices.

Bonuses to reward the commitment of sugar-beet farmers and accelerate the implementation of even more sustainable agricultural practices

This year, the AMPLIFY programme is providing bonuses of up to 10% of the price of sugar beet to be paid to our farmers who are leading the way with their decarbonization and/or agroecology efforts.

Thanks to a personalised digital tool, each Cristal Union farmer can obtain their carbon score in just 20 minutes. They can compare that with the average in their area and benefit from personalised technical advice on how to reduce their farm’s greenhouse gas emissions or sequester more carbon in their soils. Farmers who wish to do so are also supported and evaluated in their implementation of agroecological practices. Depending on their progress in one or both of these areas, they are all eligible for AMPLIFYsustainability bonuses.

Alongside its cooperative members, Cristal Union has set itself an ambitious decarbonization trajectory, approved by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), aiming to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from its agricultural operations by 27.5% by 2030 (compared to 2019).

Greenhouse gas emission levels and agroecological practices certified by independent organisations

Thanks to reliable primary data, collected and mapped via its innovative digital tool developed in partnership with MyEasyFarm, Cristal Union has a precise vision of the agricultural practices of its cooperative members. The Cooperative can combine agricultural environmental data with environmental data from its industrial sites to calculate the greenhouse gas emissions of its sugar and alcohol products.

Cristalco customers who have subscribed to the AMPLIFYprogramme have access to greenhouse gas footprints of unparalleled accuracy in the market, and are guaranteed a supply of sugar and alcohol with ever lower greenhouse gas thresholds:

– Between 170 and 380 kg of CO₂ per tonne of sugar, well below European standards of 470 to 790 kg of CO₂ per tonne of sugar.

– Between 490 and 750 kg CO2eq/tonne alcohol, well below the standard of 970 to 1000 kg CO2eq/tonne alcohol.

All of this data is subject to independent audits: greenhouse gas emission values are verified by Bureau Veritas, in accordance with ISO 14067. The agroecological practices of the cooperative members are certified by the independent organisation Control Union.

All this data can be directly integrated by AMPLIFY® customers into their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) and Scope-3 greenhouse gas reports.

A concrete and sustainable environmental commitment

Cristal Union positions itself as a leader in decarbonization and water conservation in its sector, both in agricultureand in industry.

In terms of industrial decarbonization, Cristal Union reduced its greenhouse gas emissions by 19% between 2019 and 2025, and  will reduce them by 27.5% by 2030 (compared to 2019). The trajectory is validated by the SBTi.

Cristal Union also practices exemplary water resource management. Since 2010, on-site water consumption has been reduced by 75%, and all of the group’s sugar factories are now self-sufficient in water (they no longer draw water from the natural environment for their operation, the water extracted from the sugar beets is enough on its own)! This is a first in France and Europe. Cristal Union now aims to make its distilleries water self-sufficient by 2030, and continues to redistribute more than 7 million cubic metres of water extracted from sugar beets to our farmers for use in fertilising and irrigating their fields.