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SPONSORED CONTENT: If the events of 2020 taught us anything about sustainability, it’s that the global business community understands the challenges it is up against – it is simply not acting with the urgency needed to mitigate the impacts of climate change and social inequality. And yet, the Covid-19 crisis showed us just how interlinked human, business and planetary health are.
This has shifted sustainability – previously business imperative – to mission critical on the corporate agenda. Increasingly, companies are recognising the role they can play in tackling sustainability issues and the speed with which they must “climate change proof” their business models if they are to survive and to protect our planet for future generations.
There are many factors and elements of our lifestyles and working operations that contribute to our carbon footprint, and the gravity of the problem can make a solution seem overwhelming.
According to Friends of the Earth, these include measures such as expanding the use of electric vehicles; moving away from fossil fuel sources and towards solar, wind and hydro energy generation; reducing food waste and supporting sustainable diets; and removing single use plastics.
At Sodexo, we are on a journey to address all of these points in our operations through our Better Tomorrow 2025 strategy and commitments. Our strategy is approved by the Science Based Target initiative (SBTi), which helps companies determine a pathway for reducing emissions in line with the Paris Agreement’s goal of limiting global warming to below 2°C, and preferably to 1.5°C, compared to pre-industrial levels.
We are already making good progress on our targets. We have switched to renewable electricity across our own offices, the prisons we operate and our food manufacturing facility, Tillery Valley Foods, which means the electricity we use comes from natural resources or process, such as sunlight or wind, which are constantly replenished.
This will allow for around 26 million kWh of renewable electricity, backed by Renewable Energy Guarantee of Origin (REGO) certificates, to be provided across sites annually and will reduce our carbon footprint by over 6,000 tonnes of CO2 every year and will further assist in the meeting of our carbon reduction targets.
Our responsibility to protect the planet remains, as it has always been, at the forefront of our business strategy, and is also one of our four impact pathways of our Social Impact Pledge 2021 which was launched earlier this year.
Our Social Impact Pledge 2021 is our ethnical manifesto through which we have publicly stated our commitment to a series pledges for leading the way to improve quality of life for society and our planet.
Read more about our Social Impact Pledge 2021 here.