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How to Use Sustainability to Attract and Win Over Buyers

Does sustainability really matter to retail and food service buyers? 

This was the question My Emissions, Vegan Food Group and Pollen + Grace posed at Bread and Jam’s 2024 festival in London, an annual event for FMCG challenger brands looking to accelerate their growth.  


Food & Drink founders and investors at My Emissions’ co-hosted summer round table discussed the latest sustainability opportunities and challenges in the food industry and carbon accounting sector. They heard practical advice and the latest insights on:

  • Carbon labelling and results from My Emissions real-life case studies
  • Net zero targets and the priority buyers place on sustainability factors when evaluating new Food & Drink products.
  • Whether sustainability credentials really do boost profitability or just add to cost.
  • Where are we on the path to standardisation of carbon labelling?
  • The benefits of concrete carbon data and Third Party verification.
  • Helping consumers become carbon literate.
Attendees at the summer round table co-hosted by My Emissions, Vegan Food Group and Pollen & Grace

Are major retailers increasingly focussed on sustainability & Net-Zero targets?

Major retailers – although still often ultimately driven by taste and margins – are now increasingly focussed on sustainability, the round table heard.

Food retail companies find themselves at the intersection of consumer expectations, regulatory demands, and the imperative to build a resilient and responsible supply chain.

With many now concentrating on meeting Net-Zero targets, and the introduction of legislation across the UK and EU, such as CRSD (Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive) which will affect bigger companies, sustainability will naturally trickle down to demands on suppliers since they become part of the retailers’ scope three emissions. 

Last year, WRAP, WWF and eight major UK retailers (Aldi, Co-op, Lidl, M&S, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s, Tesco, and Waitrose) launched the Retailer Net Zero CAP. This programme aims to cut UK food and drink industry emissions by 50% by 2030, reflecting retailers’ growing environmental targets and their impact on suppliers.

“With any new listing, new products or new partners, we’ve been asked more and more about sustainability,” said Sophie Halliwell from plant-based fresh food to go and ready meal brand, Pollen + Grace

Pollen + Grace is working with My Emissions to roll out carbon labels on their products.

Pollen + Grace’s salads, wraps and ready meals are stocked by major retailers including Sainsbury’s, Waitrose, Tesco, Co-op and Ocado and also feature on British Airways’ In-Flight menu. 

The brand is working with My Emissions to measure the emissions of every meal and is in the process of rolling out carbon labels on their products.

Halliwell said buyers were asking more questions about manufacturing processes and sites as well as packaging and future environmental initiatives the company is working on. 

Joe Hill, Co-Founder of plant-based pizza brand One Planet Pizza agreed: “We launched into ASDA, and working with My Emissions really helped us get that listing,” he said. 

When asked about the importance of start-ups proving the carbon credentials of their products, Halliwell said that, in her opinion having accreditation was “really important for the selling.”

Joe Hill added that One Planet Pizza had three pillars – taste, health and sustainability, and these were ordered on pack after consumer research found their customer preference was to hear about nutrition ahead of sustainability.   

One Planet Pizza said working with My Emissions on carbon labelling helped them launch their product into ASDA.

Is there a ‘gold standard’ for carbon labelling?

Whilst the carbon labelling industry is not yet standardised, everyone agreed that it is certainly part of the future. As such, there are differences in types of carbon labels on offer and consumers may well see different types of labels on different products. 

These differences can include what system boundaries are used to measure emissions (whether farm to fork to bin or farm to store), emission factors, data used, calculations, methodology and other assumptions.

My Emissions is an advocate of the standardisation of carbon labelling and has developed its carbon label working closely with Defra (the UK’s Department for the Environment, Farming and Rural Affairs) and Wrap.

My Emissions product carbon calculations cover at least all emissions from farm to store, and include scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions.

The My Emissions Product Assessment System Boundary for our carbon ratings.

The My Emissions A-E traffic light ratings system is based on carbon intensity so it is not affected by serving size, and is very similar to the government-recommended format for nutritional labels.

But there is still work to be done. Organisations such as the Food Transparency Partnership, in its most recent update in April 2024, say the current priority is to standardise the methodology used to measure carbon emissions, before attention is turned to standardising labels. 

Why is robust, independently verified data on carbon emissions important?

Many expressed an increasing demand to present consumers with robust data on carbon emissions and how having independently verified data offered their business real value. 

One was Vegan Food Group (VFG) brand Meatless Farm who has worked with My Emissions to analyse the carbon footprint of core SKUs whilst doing a bigger carbon data analysis piece in the background. 

“The reason for working with My Emissions was to actually have some concrete data that we could be able to say, here’s the emissions of these products, and crucially to make it real for the consumer, this is how it compares to the meat based alternatives,” said Katie Roselaar, representing Vegan Food Group (VFG). 

The results, which were used in a summer marketing campaign, highlighted Meatless Farms burger with an 85% lower carbon footprint than a beef burger, while its plant-based ‘Pork and Apple sausages’ had a 57% lower CO2 emissions than meat-based pork and apple sausages. 

Meatless Farms worked with My Emissions to carbon rate some of their products.

It was a great way to “be able to get something out there into the market,” whilst more extensive longer-term carbon accounting work is underway, said Roselaar, adding that many start-ups who may initially want a cost-effective solution might simply like to follow suit, “dip your toe in and understand some of your products a little bit better” when first considering carbon labelling. 

Meatless Farms used carbon emissions comparisons in a summer marketing campaign.

Katie Roselaar also highlighted the benefit of “having the way we explain the results in copy double checked” by the My Emissions data team before being used in public and media relations or online content. 

Verification was useful to ensure it was aligned with the CMA’s Green Claims Code  so the brand could avoid making misleading claims. 

Helping consumers become carbon literate 

There was no doubt that educating consumers on carbon and helping them become carbon literate is increasingly on food and drink start-ups’ minds.

“I think we are all starting to learn about what carbon emissions are associated with. So I think if we start showing consumers these numbers then they’ll start to learn,” said Katie Roselaar.

Pollen + Grace’s Sophie Halliwell agreed, saying that the rationale behind rolling out carbon labels on pack was so “we can help educate consumers more (…) and offer that kind of visibility [in the same way nutritional ratings do] to all our customers.”

Yet sometimes carbon analysis for internal use can lead to better brand storytelling down the line. My Emissions highlighted a client case study Honestly Tasty whose carbon assessment revealed an ingredient hotspot in one of their original products. This information led to redesign and relaunch of one of its plant-based cheeses with 65% fewer carbon emissions per product. The process and launch of its new nut-free Gourney-style Garlic & Herb cheese was a win for the environment and the opportunity to tell consumers about the brand’s sustainability progress. Read our case study here.

Honestly Tasty's 100% plant based garlic and herb cheese, displaying a carbon rating of A.
Honestly Tasty’s 100% plant based garlic and herb cheese, has a My Emissions carbon rating of A.

“Sustainability will get you noticed, but once you’re listed, the biggest challenge is to get your product picked up,” as Charlie Turner of Penrhos Spirits noted. “How we communicate with consumers is what will make the biggest difference of all.” 

Want to understand the emissions of your food products?

My Emissions has recently launched a free plan, allowing restaurants (and any food business) to measure emissions of up to 3 dishes. With our AI recipe generator, you can have carbon ratings in minutes and start adding carbon labels to your product or menu.

Sign up below, book a call with our team today to learn more, or contact us at hello@myemissions.co.

Published on:
18 August 2024

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