An innovative step in the area of climate. CONO Kaasmakers is the first dairy organisation in the Netherlands to express its ambition to make its entire cheese chain climate-positive by 2030. In doing so, the farmers' cooperative, known for Beemster cheese among other things, confirms its leading role in the area of sustainability.

Sustainable player
As a brand builder and relatively small player in the dairy industry, CONO has had a sound sustainability policy for years. In 2002, CONO was the first with a premium for grazing, followed by the introduction of the sustainability programme Caring Dairy in 2009 for sustainability on the farm. Since 2020, the CONO cheese factory has been certified climate neutral. Sustainability is in CONO's genes and climate positive is the next ambitious step to guarantee continuity for future generations.

Climate targets
In addition to the European directives, the government has set targets for where the Netherlands should be in 2030 and 2050. These targets contain guidelines for CO2 reduction by 2030 and climate neutrality by 2050. Climate positive goes a bit further. It means that you also take CO2 out of the air, for example by planting trees or storing CO2 in the soil.

CONO wants to be involved and close to society, and we are well aware that climate change is a major challenge. The urgency to take steps is great.

Climate positive, a motivating ambition
The CONO cheese factory is already climate neutral, and we are quite proud of that. CONO has now committed itself to the ambition to make its entire cheese chain climate neutral by 2030; from cow's mouth to shop shelf. Chairman of the Board Evert Kremer: "We will do that together with our members. The strength of our cooperative lies in the fact that we deploy all the knowledge and expertise of generations of cattle farmers and cheese makers to make the highest quality cheese and to continuously improve sustainability. We also start effective CO₂ compensation projects as close as possible and, if necessary, further away. In doing so, we focus on happy cows, happy farmers and happy planet, so the cows continue to graze outside and together with our farmers we give further substance to our ambition."

Taking real steps
And how do you become climate positive? That is not so simple. CONO is going to do it in steps. The Caring Dairy sustainability programme includes 18 indicators to make our farms more sustainable, many of which have an impact on our climate score. In addition, we will continue to improve the sustainability of transport, cheese production and packaging, among other things.

Managing Director Wim Betten: "Expressing ambition is a beautiful thing. More people should do that. I have no doubt that, with our generations of knowledge and craftsmanship, we will also get the job done. It will not always be easy. But if we want to be climate-positive, it will happen one way or the other. We are going to listen to our members and our environment. We are going to actively work on innovative projects that will reduce or capture our CO2 emissions. Once again, it starts with an ambition and that may be a drop, but if everyone sets to work ambitiously, a drop can become a big shower."