“Using resource productivity as a new metric for measuring system performance and targeted investments is critical to longer-term profitability in this age of sustainability,” said Ory Zik, Lux Research vice president of analytics and a co-author of the report titled, “Scarcity and Materiality: Benchmarking Resource Productivity in Food and Beverage.”

“Converting inputs into energy and water equivalents will help establish baselines and benchmarks, but improved reporting on a more granular level is essential to measure impact from the whole ecosystem and in setting corporate strategy,” he added.

Among researchers findings included:

Brewers lag other beverage makers, showing importance of product-level data: Compared to diversified beverage companies at $600/kL, makers of alcoholic beverages realized an even lower $250/kL, led by Heineken at over $300/kL.

Energy usage is another vital metric: Both food and beverage companies average about $12,000 in revenue per megawatt hours (MWh) of electricity used. The best in class in this sector is the J.M. Smucker Co., growing from about $14,000/MWh in 2010 to about $18,000/MWh in 2013 – likely due to infrastructure improvements started in 2010.

Full risks remain unassessed: Most companies only report partial information on resource use, and may remain unaware of the full risks they face. For example, a beverage company with a water use ratio of 3:1 in its own operations may find its ratio ten times or more higher if it takes the entire supply chain into account, implying much higher risks. Furthermore, because water is such a local issue –the value of a liter of water in California is different than in upstate New York – companies cannot quantify their resource risks unless they use accurate geospatial analytics.