Three ways to defend your business against climate change
Businesses must prepare themselves to tackle the greatest environmental threat from climate change, warned Trewin Restorick, former boss of Global Action Plan and founder of food waste charity Hubbub.
‘Top of the agenda’
“Climate change is made up of many parts, but the bit that’s going to hit food and drink manufacturers is water,” he told FoodManufacture.co.uk. “The availability of water and using too much water [are both an issue] so that’s got to be top of the agenda for businesses.”
Extreme weather could also cause problems for food and drink manufacturers and must, therefore, also be at the top of their agendas, he added.
Restorick encouraged businesses to take a three-tiered-approach to tackle these environmental issues.
“The first one’s an obvious one,” he claimed. “With expectations being there will be more extreme weather and fresh water is going to be hard to come by, you would expect businesses to have a really resilient, on-going model [in place].
“Secondly, you can’t do it on your own, so that’s collaboration. Not just with your suppliers, but also potentially with competitors.”
More collaboration between businesses was hard to achieve because firms feared sharing too much information with each other, he added.
Finally, Restorick said firms should be more honest and engaged with their customers.
“That actually might mean saying that there are certain things that are not sustainable to consume,” he added. “And there should be less choice in these areas and there should be more choice in the areas of things that are sustainable to consume.”
Water scarcity was rising up the agenda of food and drink businesses, who were beginning to treat it as seriously as they considered their carbon footprint three to four years ago, Restorick said.
“Unfortunately for businesses in Europe, governments are heading in the opposite direction and it is very hard for companies to do the right thing when government is not helping them,” he claimed.
Ahead of governments
“You can see companies that are way ahead of governments in terms of their understanding and response – so they need more help.”
He praised big businesses, such as Coca-Cola Enterprises and Nestlé for recognising the severity of the water issue and making “massive strides” to reduce their water usage.
Some small companies, however, lacked the time, space and resources to make the changes needed, Restorick said.
There is also a danger that big businesses would just push the problem down the supply chain, he claimed.
“I’ve met with a lot of the smaller companies and they feel like they’re being kicked,” Restorick said.
“Big companies are saying ‘let’s cut emissions and be more sustainable’… I do think there is a real issue about big companies pushing targets down the supply chain.”
Meanwhile, look out for our exclusive video interview with Restorick on food waste.
