engaging employees and other lessons in sustainability
DESCRIPTION
Presentation by Jamie Mitchell, managing director, Innocent Drinks - at the CBI Climate Change Summit, Tuesday 2 December 2008TRANSCRIPT
November 2008
Engaging employees,
and other lessons in sustainability
agenda
o An innocent story
o What is sustainability?
o Three lessons
innocent started as a three friends with one simple aim
a tale of two ideas
Make life a little bit better and a little bit easier
This revolutionary thinking led us to their first idea
a tale of two ideas
The amazing electric bath
Fortunately their second idea had more merits
a tale of two ideas
The fruit smoothie
our products
Today we have a family of smoothies for all occasions
our new products
And in the past two months, 2 new ranges have been added
Orange Juice Veg Pots
9
europe
From a UK base we are now sold in a few other places too
growth
All of which has delivered some amazing growth over the years
Source: innocent Ltd management accounts, 2006 budget
0.2 1.44 6
1117
38
75
114
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007
Revenue
£ Millions
agenda
o An innocent story
o What is sustainability?
o Three lessons
Why do we want to be
sustainable?
core philosophy
An over-riding principle by which we make all decisions
Create a business we
can be proud of
a.k.a The Nursing Home Test
Create a business we can be proud of
Be
natural Be
responsible
Be
commercial
Be
generous
• Keep it human,
put people first
• Make 100%
natural,
delicious,
healthy stuff,
100% of the time
• Act and talk
naturally,
treating others
as you would
want to be
treated.
• Leave things a little
better than we find
them
• Move towards only
zero or positive
impacts
• Create growth and
profit for us and
our customers
• Be tough, and be
fair
• Think clearly, act
decisively and
keep the main
thing, the main
thing
• With time where
needed
• With praise
wherever possible
• With wealth with
those that deserve
it
company values
Be
entrepreneurial
• Chase opportunities
and be responsive
• Be creative and
challenge the status
quo
• Prove it can be done
This drives our 5 values
What is sustainability?
We think sustainability is about…
Leaving things a little bit
better than we find them
business value from sustainability
Long term
Short term
Internal External
Cost and risk reduction
Lower costs and risks by reducing
resource use.
Brand reputation and legitimacy
Gain trust and loyalty of customers,
suppliers and employees
Continuous innovation
Stay competitive, realise major
product or cost improvements
through clean technology.
Planning for the future
The sustainability of our planet, and
communities ensures the
sustainability of our business
Source: S. Hart 1997, Beyond Greening: Strategies for a sustainable world
being sustainable
There is no perfect solution – it’s a balancing act
Sustainable
development
Profit
Sufficient
Economy
Planet
Viable natural
environment
People
Nurturing
community
Our sustainability strategy has 5 key elements
Made from
socially and
environmentally
conscious
ingredients
In market
leading
sustainable
packaging
Produce 100%
healthy, 100%
natural drinks
Produced by a
resource efficient
business
Sharing some of
wealth created
with people who
deserve it
sustainability strategy
100%
natural
drinks
ethical
ingredients
sustainable
packaging
resource
-efficient
business
sharing the
proceeds
Firstly we need to only make natural healthy products
Made from
socially and
environmentally
conscious
ingredients
In market
leading
sustainable
packaging
Produce 100%
healthy, 100%
natural drinks
Produced by a
resource efficient
business
Sharing some of
wealth created
with people who
deserve it
sustainability strategy
100%
natural
drinks
ethical
ingredients
sustainable
packaging
resource
-efficient
business
sharing the
proceeds
product has to be inherently sustainable
100% natural fruit
Never, ever from
concentrate
2 portions per
bottle
Naturally low GI
Natural drinks that tastes good and do you good
Buying ethical ingredients
Made from
socially and
environmentally
conscious
ingredients
In market
leading
sustainable
packaging
Produce 100%
healthy, 100%
natural drinks
Produced by a
resource efficient
business
Sharing some of
wealth created
with people who
deserve it
sustainability strategy
100%
natural
drinks
ethical
ingredients
sustainable
packaging
resource
-efficient
business
sharing the
proceeds
ethical ingredients
We want to buy our fruit from farms that look after both their workers
and the environment
ethical ingredients
We really like the Rainforest Alliance
1. Covers both social and environmental issues
2. Encourages farms to build their skills
and capabilities
3. Works with all types and sizes of farms
4. Undertaken by local NGOs
All our bananas are from Rainforest Alliance certified farms.
We also buy some RA certified pineapple and passion fruits, and have given the
RA 3 years of funding to increase the amount and variety of certified fruit.
innocent standards
For other fruits, we have now developed our own comprehensive
minimum standards
After the fruit, its about the packaging
Made from
socially and
environmentally
conscious
ingredients
In market
leading
sustainable
packaging
Produce 100%
healthy, 100%
natural drinks
Produced by a
resource efficient
business
Sharing some of
wealth created
with people who
deserve it
sustainability strategy
100%
natural
drinks
ethical
ingredients
sustainable
packaging
resource
-efficient
business
sharing the
proceeds
Sustainable packaging
We look for 4 main sustainability criteria for our packaging formats:
1. To only use recycled or renewable materials
2. To use as little material as possible
3. To use packaging formats
with a low carbon footprint
4. To use packaging formats
for which there is a widely available
sustainable waste management option
reduce virgin finite materials
Last year we achieved our long-term ambition of
a 100% rPET bottle – a global first
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
2001 2003 2005 2007
Percent
Recycled
Material
We want to be as efficient as possible
Made from
socially and
environmentally
conscious
ingredients
In market
leading
sustainable
packaging
Produce 100%
healthy, 100%
natural drinks
Produced by a
resource efficient
business
Sharing some of
wealth created
with people who
deserve it
sustainability strategy
100%
natural
drinks
ethical
ingredients
sustainable
packaging
resource
-efficient
business
sharing the
proceeds
We started with the things that just made common sense
the basics
suppliers going green
We have helped one manufacturer halve their use of land fill …
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
Mar April May June July
Landfill
Waste
(Tonnes) 54%
suppliers going green
… and move to renewable energy
Lastly, we want to give something back
Made from
socially and
environmentally
conscious
ingredients
In market
leading
sustainable
packaging
Produce 100%
healthy, 100%
natural drinks
Produced by a
resource efficient
business
Sharing some of
wealth created
with people who
deserve it
sustainability strategy
100%
natural
drinks
ethical
ingredients
sustainable
packaging
resource
-efficient
business
sharing the
proceeds
• Our vision
To build sustainable futures for
the world’s poorest people
Support people dependent on subsistence
agriculture to build sustainable futures
The innocent foundation
In 2007 we supported 18 projects around the world, helping 58,000 people
on the path a more sustainable life
The projects
Good Business is
Good Business
• Lower costs
• Loyal customers
• Motivated team
In summary
agenda
o An innocent story
o What is sustainability?
o Three lessons
Lesson 1:
Engage every employee by
putting sustainability at the heart of your business
39
Make sustainability fundamental to your business, not an add on
At the heart….
innocent purpose
For innocent, sustainability is a key part of our business purpose
Make food good
Delicious Healthy Sustainable
And, rather than a separate function, innocent has put sustainability at the heart of it’s
business, with accountability shared across many teams
Sponsor
RichPackaging Production
Lead
Jess
Technical
shared accountability
500 hands are better than two
Everyone is trained, and every team has a champion
Teams who have completed
adv. sustainability training:
• Products
• Procurement
• This Water
• Scandi
• France
• Ireland
• Germany
Appointed sustainability champion:
• All international teams
• Technical, Production, Procurement
• PR, Marketing, Comms
• Commercial, Consumers
• People, IT, Finance, Environment
Lesson 2:
Start measuring
One step at a time
carbon footprint
Until you measure it, you can’t identify the easy wins. Our 2006 carbon
audit lead us to set three objectives for 2007
Growing &
Packing
Material shipping
Packaging
Manufacture
Distribution
Use
Disposal
0
200
400
600
800
250ml Bottle 1L Carton
CO2
per Unit
(Grams)
1. Reduced fertiliser use
Fertiliser use is a major contributor – our minimum standards and buying
certified fruit reduces its use
Growing &
Packing
Material shipping
Packaging
Manufacture
Distribution
Use
Disposal
0
200
400
600
800
250ml Bottle 1L Carton
CO2
per Unit
(Grams)
2. Move to 100% recycled plastic
Packaging was the biggest issue for bottles – rPET reduced the total by 18%
Growing &
Packing
Material shipping
Packaging
Manufacture
Distribution
Use
Disposal
0
200
400
600
800
250ml Bottle 1L Carton
CO2
per Unit
(Grams)
3. reduce our suppliers’ footprints
It was also clear we needed to help our suppliers realise savings
Growing &
Packing
Material shipping
Packaging
Manufacture
Distribution
Use
Disposal
0
200
400
600
800
250ml Bottle 1L Carton
CO2
per Unit
(Grams)
Lesson 3:
Engage your consumer
Lesson 3: Engage your consumer
Our website
We keep our consumers informed of our sustainability work on our website, with
frequent blog posts too
smoothie footprints
We worked with the carbon trust to launch carbon labelling, although we haven’t yet
put these on our bottles as consumer understanding of the concept is too low
consumer context
Instead, we have tried to make the information meaningful with our idea for a daily
allowance of CO2 per person
summary
Made from
socially and
environmentally
conscious
ingredients
In market
leading
sustainable
packaging
Produce 100%
healthy, 100%
natural drinks
Produced by a
resource efficient
business
Sharing some of
wealth created
with people who
deserve it
We are at the beginning of a journey. We are no way near good enough.
But we know where to go, and how to get there.