
Tackling the challenges of sustainability in the food & beverage industry
The food and beverage sector significantly affects sustainability, accounting for 26% of global greenhouse gas emissions, using 70% of freshwater, and generating 24% of food waste each year. Adopting sustainable practices like cutting emissions, conserving water, and reducing waste is essential to limit environmental impact.
A growing emphasis on accountability has led the industry to embrace holistic reporting, covering everything from commodity traceability to supply chain human rights. Frameworks such as GRI’s 2021 update, the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures, and the Accountability Framework initiative (AFi) encourage transparency. These voluntary guidelines are complemented by mandatory regulations like CSRD, CSDDD, and the EU Deforestation Regulation.
As reporting requirements grow, the challenge is to navigate this complexity and focus on what matters. Industry-wide collaboration is key to achieving ambitious net-zero targets for energy, land, and agricultural emissions, answering the critical question: “How do we get there?”
Food and beverage case studies
Food and beverage insights
Meet our specialist consultants for food and beverage sustainability

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
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.