Food, beverage and hospitality
Food and beverage
The food and beverage industry heavily impacts sustainability, generating 26% of global greenhouse gas emissions. It consumes 70% of freshwater and contributes to 24% of food waste annually. Sustainable practices, including reducing emissions, conserving water, and minimizing waste, are crucial for mitigating environmental and resource impacts.
The industries reporting and disclosure focus is to a holisitic approach to accountability from traceability of commodities, sourcing to supply chain human rights.This has been growing from the update of GRI’s update in 2021 to push organisations to disclose human rights throughout all aspects of their reporting to the more recent Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures and Accountability Framework initative (AFi). These voluntary frameworks and disclosure initiatives are matched by non-financial reporting obligations from CSRD to CSDDD and the EU Deforestation Regulation. The alphabet soup is growing on a monthly basis and therefore it is vital to push through the broth to understand what is important. Across the sector there has been a movement to set ambition net zero targets across both energy and forest land and agricultural emissions which raises the question of “how do we get there”, the answer is industry collaboration.
Hospitality
The hospitality industry significantly impacts sustainability, contributing to 8% of global greenhouse gas emissions. It heavily consumes resources, using 346,000 gallons of water and generating 1,000 tons of waste daily per hotel. Sustainable practices are essential to mitigate these effects, emphasising energy efficiency, waste reduction, and resource conservation.
Alongside the above impact, the hospitality sector accounts for 5% of GDP in the EU and 3.5% in the US there is a huge opportunity for engaging its billions of annual customers through showing commitments to a sustainable future.
Our team is technically qualified and experienced in the food, beverage and hospitably sector, from disclosures, emission calculations (FLAG), net zero strategies, carbon footprint analysis, SBTi submissions, risk assessments, double materiality and more.
Insights
Meet our specialists in food, beverage and hospitality
Henry Unwin
Head of Climate and Carbon
Henry has dedicated his career to sustainability, building up 14 years of experience both as a consultant and in-house. For a decade Henry drove sustainability initiatives in-house within regional government, international business and regenerative agriculture and retail. A passionate advocator for businesses’ role in tackling the climate crisis, dedicating much of his time in the food, farming and retail sector.
Henry leads our Climate and Carbon Team, making the complex simple for the businesses he works with. His specialisms include senior stakeholder engagement, supporting businesses to set their ambition for net zero and developing bespoke net-zero strategies to drive carbon reduction through supply chains.
Will Bourns
Senior Consultant – Climate and Carbon Services
Will specialises in the quantification of corporate greenhouse gas emissions across direct operations and supply chains in a range of sectors. This enables Will and the team to create net-zero targets and align strategies for companies to halt the worst impacts of climate change by transitioning their companies to 1.5 degrees. Will’s love for the natural world has led him to work with organisations to understand Forest Land and Agricultural emissions (FLAG), associated targets as well risks and opportunities associated with climate and nature.
Will studied Zoology and Natural Sciences at the University of Liverpool and since graduating Will expanded his knowledge through memberships at PIEMA and EI. Before joining Simply Sustainable Will worked at a series of not-for-profit organisations from WWF to Battersea Dogs and Cats Home as well as We are Albert where he created an emissions calculator tool used by the film and TV industry to support the supply chain in quantifying its impact. Outside of work, Will volunteers at Care4Calais, a charity supporting asylum seekers and refugees in the UK and Europe.
Camila Segura
Consultant
As a Climate and Carbon consultant, Camila is deeply passionate about nature and biodiversity. Camila works with multiple sectors but predominately collaborates on projects in the food and beverage industry and specialises in analysing the decarbonisation of a business’s procurement emissions, particularly in relation to forest and land use change.
Camila has devoted her academic and professional career to addressing environmental and sustainability challenges. Her academic background is in environmental engineering, and she recently completed a Master’s in Global Sustainability Challenges from the University of Exeter. Camila’s goal is to help companies in their decarbonisation efforts by establishing connections with nature.