Food is finally on the agenda at COP28
Recently Claire Atkins Morris, Sustainability Director for Sodexo UK & Ireland spoke to Footprint about COP28.
I’m pleased to see food emerge from the fringes and make the formal agenda at COP28, because the way the world grows, processes, transports and consumes it contributes a third of all greenhouse gas emissions. The scale of it dwarfs aviation, but when people think about carbon footprints it’s planes that leap to mind. I’m hoping COP28 will turn people’s focus to food.
Recognising the role of business
I’m equally optimistic about the call for collaboration to extend beyond governments. Earlier this year, the COP28 Presidency announced that working with businesses and non-state actors would be a central pillar of its food and agriculture programme, including around food waste. From Sodexo’s recent work with suppliers and clients, we know that close collaboration is not just desirable; it’s the only chance we have of achieving our net zero goals.
We’ve been working to decarbonise since 2010, and our progress report published in January 2023 shared our 33% reduction across Scope 1, 2 and 3 greenhouse gas emissions compared to our 2017 baseline. But with 98% of our emissions sitting in scope 3 – largely in our supply chain and in the services we deliver at client sites – we’ve introduced a new lever to accelerate this work. From January 2030, we will only work with suppliers that can demonstrate tangible progress on emissions reduction through published reporting.
Turning targets into impactful actions
Emphasising tangible progress is important, because while targets help to focus the mind, its action that we need.
Take food waste. Food insecurity has risen sharply, yet the UK throws away huge amounts of edible food every day. It’s not only horrifying during a cost of living crisis, it’s a key contributor to climate change. Reducing food waste is therefore a key lever in Sodexo’s Net Zero Transition Plan.
Reducing food waste
Our target is to reduce food waste by 50% by 2025. We can recite that target off by heart, but we’re equally aware of the hard work required to hit it. It’s meant introducing sophisticated waste measurement systems at hundreds of sites, adapting our menus, redistributing food where we can and educating policymakers and partners through our Appetite for Action campaign.
There’s much more to do, but the scale of the challenge is why I find the language of COP28 so encouraging; the business community has been asked to mobilise and be held accountable for progress.
Taking collaborative action
Accountability is key to how we’re working with our supply partners, as is collaboration and understanding. They are integral to our success, which is why we offer mentoring to the smaller organisations that account for 41% of our spend. Through our community of practice, we’re also co-creating solutions with like-minded clients in other sectors to collectively reach our goals faster.
The complexity of emissions reduction means that no single organisation has the answer. But I feel COP28 will provide the much-needed spotlight for food systems.