Becoming a sustainable business, and achieving zero carbon

The push to be a more sustainable business is in full swing across the world, with almost half of UK companies planning to increase their environment-related spending between now and summer 2021, according to HSBC’s Made for the Future report. Consumers are becoming ever more environmentally conscious and are actively looking to buy from companies that are sustainable and purpose driven.

This sustainable business focused podcast brings together experts from four companies leading the charge on sustainability, it will explore what interventions, challenges and innovations are required to enable industry to become more sustainable. Where should companies be investing both money and effort to enable them to achieve zero waste landfill and zero carbon? How can you build a sustainable business? Joining our panel are Anna Pierce, Director of Sustainability, Tate & Lyle, Katie Leggett, Sustainability Cheerleader, Innocent Drinks, Alex Smith, Managing Director, Alara Wholefoods and Andy Griffiths, Head of Value Chain Sustainability, Nestlé.

Anna Pierce is the Director of Sustainability at Tate & Lyle, a 160-year-old business-to-business ingredient supplier. She is working to refocus the company’s sustainability programme on initiatives and partnerships that provide the greatest opportunity for positive impact in support of the its purpose – Improving Lives for Generations. She is leading Tate & Lyle’s efforts to infuse sustainability throughout the company’s operations.

Anna joined Tate & Lyle after spending her career in various Environment, Health and Safety roles at General Electric. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Environmental Science, a minor in Environmental and Occupational Science and Health, and an MBA from Gannon University. She also maintains accreditation as a Certified Safety Professional.

Katie is the innocent drinks ‘sustainability cheerleader’ specialising in internal engagement and sustainability communications. Katie has worked with the WBCSD Sustainable Lifestyles team as well as in Corporate Responsibility reporting at ArcelorMittal. Katie joined the innocent sustainability team in 2014 and has since led their approach to human rights, made sure everyone at innocent has sustainability in their objectives and written innocent’s first ever ‘good all round’ report. Katie believes that – since a business is only made up of the people who work within it – it’s really important that sustainability teams invest time to make sure their colleagues are proud of, and can actively support, their company’s commitment to sustainability.

Alex Smith founded Alara in 1975 with £2 he picked up in the street. Along with others, Alex was very active in the squatting movement of the 1970s and he decided to live without money for almost a year. The day after he decided to start using money again, Alex found £2. He spent the money taking a van around New Covent Garden Market to gather fruits and vegetables which were to go to waste and sold them on in a squatting shop. That shop became one of the first health shops, selling flakes, fruits, dried fruit, seeds and nuts. By 1977, they were producing a mix of these ingredients that became the first muesli recipe with no added sugar. Alara’s focus has always been on clean, healthy food. In 1988, Alara was licensed by the Soil Association to produce the first Organic certified cereal in the world.

Andrew leads Nestlé’s environmental sustainability strategy across its businesses in the UK and Ireland. He has worked for Nestle UK&I for over 20 years, primarily in operational and engineering roles. Andy is both a chartered engineer (IET) and chartered environmentalist (IEMA). He is focused on bringing together the engineering expertise, operational experience and environmental insights of the organisation alongside collaborative partnerships with academia and key delivery partners to develop and implement robust and effective sustainability programmes.