New shoots for green mission

This month we have reported on our members' progress, with key headlines such as the fact that they have reduced their carbon emissions by 21% since 1990 and are now diverting 90% of their factory waste from landfill.

In fact, companies have been so successful at working towards the commitments we set in 2007 that we have updated our Ambition to challenge the sector to go further and faster.

However, many of us acknowledge that food manufacturers do need to take more account of the bigger sustainability picture. From the responsible sourcing of ingredients to the impacts of agricultural production on biodiversity, we need to be thinking about what is happening beyond the walls of our businesses.

Many of these issues are hugely complex, and cannot be directly addressed in the manufacturing process itself. But we recognise our responsibilities and have this month published a new set of sustainability principles that recognise this wider context and will guide our ongoing efforts to work collaboratively with other stakeholders in these areas.

We believe there is a long-term business benefit in addressing these issues, no matter how difficult they may at first appear. To be truly sustainable (and profitable) in the long term, successful businesses understand that they need to address their social and environmental impacts. And our Five-fold Environmental Ambition is an important first step in that process.

Those of you not thinking about these issues had best beware: doing nothing is no longer an option.

Julian Hunt is director of communications at the Food and Drink Federation​