Few people are better suited to guide us through the journey with Climate & Nature than Claes Johansson. As Head of Sustainability at Lantmännen for over two decades, he is one of the most experienced in Swedish business, and when you talk to Claes about Climate & Nature, you get a sense of opportunity, an attitude that seems to permeate everything he does. 

From adversity to momentum 

Claes recalls how the cultivation programme was not born out of success, but from the lessons learned from previous experiments. Already in the 1990s, Lantmännen tried similar initiatives, where grain was grown with reduced environmental impact. The results were promising, up to 300,000 tonnes of grain were grown, but the venture lacked a clear market strategy and commercial support. When demand did not materialize, the initiative also faded away. 

" We learned that good practices are not enough, and for a change to last, you need both a stable model for the farmer and package it so that it meets market demand. Without both legs, it falls ," says Claes.  

Climate & Nature was founded in 2015, the same year that the Paris Agreement was signed. Claes describes a time when the climate issue was cemented as a global issue of fate. The IPCC's reports showed increasingly clearly the link between human activity and accelerating warming, and the failures of previous UN meetings, not least Copenhagen in 2009, gave the agreement a strong symbolic weight. For the first time, the countries of the world managed to agree on common goals, where the commitment to keep the temperature increase well below two degrees marked a real paradigm shift in international politics and in the business community's climate work. 

At the same time , the climate issue began to move from being seen solely as an environmental problem to becoming a central business issue. Companies started talking about risks in the value chain, about Scope 3 emissions and Science Based Target, fossil freedom, while investors increasingly demanded transparency.   

Climate & Nature was born out of this time, as a concrete and commercial tool for putting the climate goals into practice.  
 
"Climate & Nature translates high climate ambitions into practical measures in agriculture, based on scientific criteria, but with a simplicity that makes them possible to use in reality," says Claes.  

The program can already deliver grain that meets Science Based Targets and the FLAG requirement of 36% reduced emissions per tonne by 2030. The success is based on the fact that the programme focuses on the measures that provide the greatest climate benefit: the use of fossil-free plant nutrients and fuels and precision farming, and also includes criteria for strengthening biodiversity, such as flowering zones and measures to promote For these efforts, the farmer receives compensation that makes it possible and interesting to be included in the programme. The programme has thus succeeded in creating conditions that are practicable at farm level and at the same time contribute to real change in the system level. 

"The fact that almost no farmers have left the programme during these ten years shows that the criteria are well balanced and that the compensation actually covers the costs. It is clear proof that the transition cannot rest solely on the farmer's shoulders," says Claes 

A journey with multiple milestones  

There are several milestones worth highlighting during these ten years, but one of the most symbolic achievements of the program , according to Claes, is the introduction of fossil-free fertilizer.  

"For the first time, the entire value chain, from field to finished product, could be made free of fossil emissions. It is a progress that has not yet received the attention it deserves, but which shows that Lantmännen is at the absolute forefront globally with our sustainability work," says Claes. 

Another important step for the programme was the transition from special farming to mass balance of cereals. This made it possible for customers to buy grain with unchanged quality but with a lower climate footprint and greater consideration for biodiversity. 

Furthermore, Claes describes Climate & Nature would never have grown without its partners. Polarbröd was the first to be launched in 2015, followed by companies such as Paulig, Spendrups, Coop and Stjärnägg , but of course also Lantmännen's own brands such as Axa, Kungsörnen and Korvbrödsbagarn , which have played a central role.      They strengthen the legitimacy of the programme and give it the market power it needs to grow. 

"Partnerships are an important driving force. Thanks to our collaborations, the entire value chain can work towards the same goal, which is why Climate & Nature not only lives on, but continues to grow," says Claes. 

10 years of results  

Since the start of the programme , 859,000 tonnes of grain have been harvested under the programme since 2015. It has achieved up to 45% less climate impact compared to the baseline in 2015 and 56,900 tonnes of CO2e have been saved through the programme since its inception.  
 
"We are the first in the world with a fossil-free value chain for food. We are alone in our industry in offering a solution that meets the SBTi goals by far, and we have been on the course for ten years.  says Claes. 

The next ten years will be crucial. With Farming of the Future, Lantmännen has a clear roadmap towards 2050, where the goal is to create the conditions for sustainable primary production with halved climate impact every ten years and climate neutrality by 2050.  To  continue to expand the programme to more geographies and value chains such as livestock production, and to continue to think long-term. 

"We know that 2050 is coming, but before that 2030 and it is just around the corner. We have to dare to tighten our bows. Reaching 80 or 90 percent of the goals is better than giving up because they feel unattainable." which is a trend that we see globally now. With Climate & Nature , we have shown that the agriculture of the future is not just a vision, it is something we are already building, here and now, together," concludes Claes.