The Ultimate Guide to: Sustainable Supply

10 IN PARTNERSHIP WITH @specialityfood W hen it comes to working within a sustainable supply chain, distribution is much more than a question of getting an item from A to B. There are a number of questions to be asked – some might even be a little uncomfortable at first – but once you’re viewing your business through the lens of sustainability, you’ll see why it is so important to make meaningful change. Renewable energy is a good place to start – implementing renewable sources and opting for electric vehicles (or a distributor who utilises them) can form an important part of the chain. Perhaps, too, you could look into the possibility of your business generating its own power through solar panels. Download the full report for more insight and actionable advice. Subject to continued innovation and policy support, all newHGVs for the food system could be zero-carbon from the mid-2030s. This shift is dependent on continued technological innovation and robust policy support to overcome the challenges associated with electrifying heavy-duty transport. [The industry must] proactively engage with programmes to decarbonise HGVs, trialling new technologies in the 2020s and planning to roll these out in the 2030s, subject to continued innovation and policy support INSTITUTE OF GROCERY DISTRIBUTION DISTRIBUTOR INSIGHT: COTSWOLD FAYRE Paul Hargreaves, CEO, shares his experience of running a sustainable operation WHAT WERE THE CHALLENGES IN MAKING YOUR OPERATIONS MORE SUSTAINABLE, AND HOW DID YOU OVERCOME THESE? The challenges are always knowing what the most effective actions are to do and how to prioritise them and of course, financial ability to do them. Not everything we have put in place to become more sustainable costs money, but some of it does and we need to ensure that what we do is the most effective use of cash. WHAT ARE THE MARKERS OF A SUSTAINABLE SUPPLY CHAIN? The best marker would be an auditable net zero measure, and this is where we are aiming for by 2030, but this is just for our own business activities. We won’t be truly net zero until all the 5,000 products within our range are also net zero, so the task head is enormous and, as a wholesale, relies hugely on our suppliers. FUTURE-PROOF DISTRIBUTION Transporting your goods with the planet in mind is a vital part of boosting your sustainability credentials... Riverford is vertically intergrated and we only work with people who are working for the right reasons, including caring for the environment Luke King, supply chain and technical director, Riverford Organic Vegetables