“Leading food companies are converging around a stance that growth and sustainability go hand in hand.”Doug Johnson,
UK Leader,
Climate Change and Sustainability Services

Leading organizations are focusing intensely on sustainability, making it part of business as usual and reporting publicly on their response to the corporate responsibility agenda.

Embedding sustainability into business

Reputation and brand trust is paramount for food companies. Some of the challenges they face are:

• Customers and consumers want to know that products are safe, labeling is reliable and companies are not damaging the environment.
• Investors, analysts and opinion formers in the media expect high standards of corporate behavior and transparent reporting.
• Businesses must comply with increasingly stringent regulatory controls on their environmental impact.

The challenge is to embed sustainability into business as usual and to harness all these expectations to achieve competitive advantage in terms of reputation and revenue, while ensuring regulatory compliance.

Sustainability as a growth driver

This requires transformational change, which can only be achieved through a combination of:

• Capital investment
• Capability enhancement
• Business process changes
• Changes to performance management measures

The commitment to greener, socially responsible business practices is leading companies to invest in clean technologies and introduce major operational changes to address a range of issues.

Leading food companies are building integrated sustainability programs to address all of these issues, across the supply chain. These efforts are given board-level support and high external visibility.

Health and wellness

Food companies are also capitalizing on growing government and consumer interest in health and wellness to develop products for new niches such neutraceuticals, functional foods containing branded active ingredients, organics and ethically sourced foods.

How we can help

We bring many years of experience of working with many of the largest food and consumer products companies on their sustainability programs. Our Climate Change and Sustainability Services (CCaSS) professionals help clients to align their business with climate change and sustainability opportunities.

Our CCaSS group offers services that include:

• Sustainability governance, risk management and strategic direction
• Sustainability program design and management
• Review and audit sustainable supply chain
• Regulation and tax efficiency
• KPI definition, performance measurement, reporting and assurance, financing and transactions advice
• Cleantech advisory services

---

<< Previous