Our planet.
12
We take our commitments to environmental
responsibility seriously and aim to take a balanced
approach, addressing our emissions, waste and
plastics, which are the materials impacting our
business most, whilst also having policies in
place that minimise deforestation impacts and
promote responsible sourcing across different
food categories. For these latter areas, please
refer to the 'Customer' section, as these areas
intersect with how we support our customers
to achieve their environmental objectives.
Net zero commitment progress
We've had our greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions
validated by an independent third party since 2012
in accordance with ISO 14064-1 certification. From
2021, our GHG emissions have been verified in line
with the HM Government document "Environmental
Reporting Guidelines: Including streamlined energy
and carbon reporting guidance". In late 2021,
we took a huge step forward and committed to
setting net zero carbon targets aligned to the
Science-Based Targets initiative (SBTi), the global
standard for net zero commitments. We were the
first delivered foodservice wholesaler to do so.
This requires us to establish an emissions baseline,
set both near term and long term targets, create
a plan to deliver against these and then get the
targets approved by the SBTi. Targets are considered
'science-based' if they are in line with what the
latest climate science deems necessary to meet
the goals of the Paris Agreement - limiting global
warming to well-below 2°C above pre-industrial
levels and pursuing efforts to limit warming to 1.5°C.
Our baseline emissions
Over the past year we've established our baseline
year (FY 2019) as this was the last 'normal' year
of operations pre-Covid. We then quantified our
baseline emissions across Scope 1, 2 and 3, using
the GHG protocol guidance on data quality to guide
our approach, assisted by Carbon Intelligence.
Click here for definitions
of Scope 1, 2 and 3
Scope 1 and 2 emissions are the most commonly
measured and reported, and some net zero claims
made by companies only cover Scope 1 and 2.
Although it's a priority to reduce Scope 1 and 2,
these emissions are only the 'visible' part of the
emissions iceberg, and for food companies such as
ourselves, the vast majority of our 'true' emissions
are generated in our supply chain, due to the huge
amount of food we buy; these are the invisible and
larger part of our climate impact. This is why our net
zero commitment covers scope 3. We absolutely
have to play our role in decarbonising food supply.
It should be noted that we have used assumptionbased reporting
in line with SBTi expectations to
calculate the baseline for our scope 3 emissions.
We have used 'spend' data, which is the minimum
allowed data calculation method accepted by
the GHG Protocol and we recognise that this is
low quality data. As time progresses we aim to
improve data quality and replace estimates with
more informed data, as carbon measurement and
reporting becomes more and more commonplace
up and down the global food supply chain.
Once data accuracy is improved, the share of
categories in scope 3 may change, however
the percentage of emissions split between
scope 1, 2 and 3 is likely to remain similar.
Our planet.
Introduction Our people Our planet Our customers
Our mission
We play our part in
the climate crisis by
acting on emissions,
plastics and waste
Committed to
reaching Net Zero