Uk Food Industry Grinds On Amid Sustainability Challenges

Progress remains slow and uneven but, amid important challenges, nan UK agri-food assemblage is ploughing on.

Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle speaks astatine nan Eco Foods 2025 convention successful London, 24 June 2025. Credit: Arena International

“We person a surgery nutrient system. That really now is simply a connection of nan obvious.”

As an opening gambit, it grabbed nan attraction – but, successful galore ways, it was difficult to disagree pinch Natalie Bennett, nan erstwhile leader of nan Green Party successful England, arsenic she kicked disconnected nan Eco Foods convention successful London.

Against a backdrop of concerns astir nan industry’s effect connected ambiance change, nan situation of nutrient security, integrative pollution, unit connected biodiversity and a mode of different issues, nan event, held successful nan UK superior precocious past month, focused connected really nan country’s agri-food assemblage is trying to make its worth chains – from workplace to fork – much environmentally sustainable.

After outlining a database of nan problems swirling astir nan UK nutrient system, Bennett – now Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle – quipped: “I committedness to springiness you a lukewarm greenish glow and I haven’t fixed you thing for illustration a lukewarm greenish glow” earlier adding: “We cognize nan answers. We cognize what we request to do for this nutrient system.”

The moves by Unilever, PepsiCo and Coca-Cola to alteration their ESG targets complete nan past 12 months person sparked a fierce statement astir firm committedness to goals successful areas from emissions to packaging.

But, passim nan Eco Foods conference, 3 conclusions could beryllium drawn: location is an appetite passim nan UK nutrient manufacture to tackle nan agelong database of analyzable sustainability issues facing nan sector; advancement remains slow and uneven; and, while so galore successful nan manufacture cognize what they want to achieve, really they tin get location is not yet clear – and whitethorn request a batch much co-operation passim each parts of nan worth chain.

It became clear nan manufacture is making headway but a batch of activity still needs to beryllium done – and a batch of challenges request to beryllium overcome.

Executives from Thai Union, Quorn Foods and Arla Foods were among those who discussed their companies’ sustainability initiatives astatine nan conference, which was held successful London’s financial district.

After 5 years of a world pandemic, supply-chain disruption, geopolitical turbulence, costs unit and cautious consumers, it wouldn’t beryllium a astonishment if, successful immoderate boardrooms, biology sustainability has go little of a privilege than possibly it was successful nan backmost half of nan 2010s.

Ahead of 1 of nan greeting panels astatine Eco Foods, nan assembled delegates were asked to ballot connected nan “most challenging” facet of sustainability. More than 60% selected “commercial sustainability”.

“Often we perceive that, nan interplay betwixt biology sustainability and commercialized sustainability is nan saccharine spot for a batch of group but, pinch existent proviso chains and disruptions correct crossed nan globe, I conjecture commercialized sustainability is evidently becoming much a privilege for a batch of businesses,” Dr. Peter Noy, head of nan Food Systems Institute astatine nan University of Nottingham, reflected.

“Scope 3 is simply a beast”

Where nutrient companies tin make – and person truthful acold made – advancement is wherever alteration is much straight successful their ain gift. On their ambiance footprint, tackling emissions person to location is easier than further up (or down) their worth chains.

However, for illustration their counterparts crossed FMCG, a company’s Scope 3 emissions are often nan biggest stock of their wide footprint and tin relationship for 90-95% of a nutrient manufacturer’s emissions. If a institution is superior astir aligning its business pinch nan UN’s ambiance goals, it’s clear these request to beryllium tackled.

Later successful nan day, Eco Foods’ delegates were asked to sum up their advancement truthful acold connected their companies’ net-zero targets. One assemblage personnel remarked: “Scope 3 is simply a beast.”

To opportunity moving pinch suppliers connected reducing Scope 3 emissions is complicated is a connection of nan obvious. The challenges for nutrient manufacturers see (but are not constricted to) whether suppliers measurement their ain emissions, really they do so, what information they collect, really that information past compares to that from different suppliers and connected and on.

Food manufacturers’ activity connected Scope 3 doesn’t hap successful a vacuum. It takes spot while they are trying to do what each companies do: grow.

“We are a business that’s been increasing 40-50% for nan last, like, 3 years and proceed to do truthful this year. With our absolute c footprint going up but our requirements to effort and get [emissions] down, it is thing we are not giving up connected but it’s decidedly a challenge,” Adam Thompson, proviso concatenation and sustainability head of UK nut-butter business Pip & Nut, says.

Pip & Nut’s Adam Thompson (far left) speaks astatine nan Eco Foods 2025 arena successful London, 24 June 2025. Credit: Arena International

Ahead of a sheet successful nan afternoon, nan assemblage astatine Eco Foods was asked what their organisation’s apical privilege was arsenic they sought to build much sustainable proviso chains. Perhaps unsurprisingly driving Scope 3 emissions was nan apical answer.

The headway manufacturers are making connected Scope 3 remains patchy. Progress tin scope from drafting up what tends to beryllium called a “framework” against which to measurement emissions done to aviator initiatives pinch mini groups of suppliers for circumstantial inputs and connected to wider efforts crossed geographies but still connected constricted areas of procurement. And results whitethorn underwhelm.

Scope 3 is difficult successful that, successful food, location seldom seems to beryllium a benignant of metallic bullet

On nan sheet was Chris Shearlock, ambient sustainability head for Thai Union, nan seafood titan. The institution embarked connected a carbon-footprint task for its John West marque past year, Shearlock said, arsenic he outlined nan results.

“My reflection was that you could do a immense magnitude of invention and a task that was rather transformative complete a number of years and you still get comparatively mini percentages successful position of reductions,” he said. “Scope 3 is difficult successful that, successful food, location seldom seems to beryllium a benignant of metallic bullet. You don’t travel backmost pinch projects that springiness you 60% aliases 70%.”

A awesome mobility for manufacturers and their suppliers to see erstwhile tackling Scope 3 – and nan finance that necessitates – is: who shoulders those costs? It’s a interest for suppliers particularly if nan finance could make them little competitive.

“I don’t cognize nan answer, I’m happy to admit, because it’s a really challenging one,” Jack Watts, sustainability group lead astatine nan National Farmers’ Union, said. “Businesses person to beryllium capable to compete, person to beryllium capable to exist, and person to cognize that they’ve sewage that semipermanent partnership. If costs do commencement rising, businesses request assurance they’re not going to beryllium undercut by [customers finding] thing cheaper from location else. We are seeing hints of that wherever really nan easiest point is [being told] ‘Actually, we’ll find immoderate imported merchandise disconnected nan world marketplace that’s easier to woody with.’”

Pip & Nut’s Thompson underlined nan costs should beryllium “shared” and highlighted an inaugural wherever nan company, alongside different peanut buyers successful Europe, is moving pinch growers successful Argentina “to decarbonise nan manufacture there”.

He added: “From nan marque constituent of view, it’s providing suppliers pinch that business attack which fosters semipermanent collaboration. If you request a supplier aliases a husbandman to invest, past they’re not going to do that – aliases going to beryllium little consenting to – if they deliberation that it is possibly a one-time woody for a twelvemonth aliases 2 years and, if adjacent clip nan value from personification other is better, past you’re going to jump ship.”

Collaboration call

As is often nan lawsuit astatine manufacture events focusing connected biology sustainability, nan taxable of collaboration passim nan proviso concatenation featured heavily.

“There needs to beryllium overmuch much collaboration crossed different sectors,” Antony Mulley, nan caput of business improvement astatine Marlow Ingredients, said.

Marlow Ingredients is simply a section of Quorn Foods and sells nan mycoprotein that is successful nan UK meat-free company’s products on a B2B ground to different businesses. Quorn has worked pinch nan University of Nottingham arsenic portion of nan academics’ activity looking astatine macromolecule accumulation successful nan discourse of a rising world population.

“We often deliberation of ourselves arsenic a nutrient manufacture and astir apt that’s a spot like, say, Quorn, Mars, aliases Unilever. There’s besides nan greater nutrient concatenation wherever we astir apt request to commencement linking successful much pinch farming organisations, pinch carrier groups and really nan holistic image is each starting to fresh together, alternatively than conscionable chunking it successful our individual proviso chain. The benefits location tin beryllium perfectly huge. It’s astir apt an area that immoderate group are looking astatine but astir apt not arsenic overmuch item arsenic we need.”

In immoderate areas, competitors are moving together connected biology sustainability while base successful mind, of course, nan request to fulfil anti-trust requirements. Camilla Riddiford, nan caput of sustainability astatine Arla Foods’ UK arm, pointed to nan dairy giant’s activity pinch Tesco and its biggest rival successful nan country, Unternehmensgruppe Theo Müller. The Future Dairy Partnership was unveiled successful November arsenic a measurement to velocity up nan simplification of c emissions successful nan sector, arsenic good arsenic improving animal use and “protecting nature”, Tesco said astatine nan time.

“The intent of this is to really collaborate astir those shared barriers, nan shared challenges that we each look successful nan dairy assemblage successful nan UK, truthful we tin unlock much of those barriers for our farmers to return action connected sustainability,” Riddiford told nan Eco Foods audience. “That’s nan cardinal point for us: really shifting from this worth chain- type attack to a afloat systems-level attack to beryllium capable to meet our Scope 3 ambitions.”

Teaming up pinch competitors tin salary off, erstwhile possibly immoderate understandable suspicion is worked through, Thai Union’s Shearlock – a erstwhile executive astatine rival tuna supplier Princes – reflected. The companies person worked together connected fishery betterment projects.

“It takes a number of years to break that down and past you really person a very cordial, pre-competitive atmosphere,” he said. “If you’ve sewage thing that is mutually very beneficial – we are slugging it connected a day-to-day basis, John West and Princes connected nan shelves astatine Tesco, Sainsbury’s, wherever it is – successful position of Indian Ocean tuna sustainability, we prime up nan telephone to each different but it took a agelong clip to get to that. If you’ve sewage a really keen, shared liking – for us, it is nan food turning up astatine our factories successful Seychelles and Mauritius and besides that our customers will judge it – it’s very clear, pre-competitive, great.”

The domiciled of consumers – and policy-makers

All actors successful nan worth concatenation will request to do their bit. When it comes to consumers, location is often a spread betwixt intent and existent acquisition habits. “Everyone talks a really bully crippled connected nan sustainability side; actually, erstwhile you look astatine nan determination to purchase, sustainability is still for illustration rather acold down that list,” Pip & Nut’s Thompson said. “We are a very benignant of sustainability- and purpose- driven marque and we talk astir that a lot. It decidedly does make a quality for nan consumers that they cognize they’re buying products from a responsible business but it does still travel rather acold down nan determination level erstwhile you’re really buying products opinionated successful beforehand of a shelf.”

Food discarded successful nan location is possibly 1 of nan main areas wherever changes successful user behaviour could person a noticeable impact. In nan UK, nan kindness and NGO WRAP has tally nan Love Food Hate Waste run to effort to trim nan magnitude of nutrient wasted astatine home. WRAP estimates 60% of nan nutrient that is wasted successful nan UK is wasted by citizens successful their ain homes. In caller years, awesome UK supermarkets person removed best-before dates connected overmuch of their caller nutrient successful a bid to prevention waste.

Estelle Herszenhorn, caput of nutrient strategy translator astatine WRAP, said nan organisation is “very proud of what it’s achieved” but added: “With nutrient waste, arsenic pinch benignant of immoderate depletion change, we can’t trust connected user acquisition and user choice. I judge that we person to make it arsenic easy arsenic imaginable for people.

“What our investigation recovered was nan specified beingness of that day explanation meant that group didn’t spot their judgement and they chucked distant really bully food. That’s an illustration of a alteration that tin happen: because that punctual now isn’t there, we estimate that that saved complete 50,000 tons of bully consequence and veg being chucked distant each year. I’d really promote america to not leap to user acquisition and user choice. It has a domiciled to play but I deliberation nan bigger work and opportunity is to group group up for success.”

However, location are, Herszenhorn noted, areas wherever governments request to measurement successful to push done change. The illustration she raised centred connected caller nutrient but it rings existent crossed a scope of biology sustainability themes.

“If consequence and veg tin beryllium sold loose, you’ve sewage nan triumph of group tin bargain nan magnitude that they need, which reduces nutrient waste, you’re removing unnecessary integrative packaging and you’re besides encouraging group to bargain nan correct magnitude of a patient food,” Herszenhorn said.

“There’s a first-mover disadvantage of if you’re 1 retailer and you waste much loose, [with] a full procreation getting utilized to buying packed products, it will trim income and group will spell to a different retailer. That’s why we’re saying that there’s a argumentation opportunity that if consequence and veg successful packaging for 21 really commonly discarded items could beryllium banned that would level nan playing section and alteration a different group of behaviour.”