Britvic blog: Matt Swindall celebrates Britvic’s first Supplier Sustainability Summit

At Britvic we have a truly global supply chain represented by our fantastic, diverse product portfolio - from J2O to Mathieu Teisseire. We source a wide range of raw materials, goods and services including ingredients from farmers and growers in Britain, and Europe; and from further afield in South America and Asia contributing to both the local and global economy. With such an expansive supply chain we understand the importance of sustainable procurement. That's why last week we held our first Supplier Sustainability Summit.

We had the pleasure of welcoming over 50 Britvic suppliers from Britain, Ireland and France at our head office in Hemel Hempstead. Throughout the day, we hosted panels to discuss insights on issues such as carbon and energy, sustainable agriculture and human rights, sustainable innovation and responsible sourcing. It was an opportunity for our suppliers to have collaborative conversations about their best practices and how we can address the sustainability challenges facing every business, from how to take that first step to launching ambitious but achievable net zero targets.

We know that reaching our climate goals means helping our partners meet theirs. By 2025, we want to reduce our Scope 1 and 2 carbon emissions (direct) by 50% and our Scope 3 carbon emissions (indirect) by 35% - and we can't achieve this on our own.

At the summit our suppliers, from Encirc to SVZ, shared how we can work together so we are all aligned to our Healthier People, Healthier Planet sustainability mission. Over the next few months, we'll be supporting and working with all our suppliers as they sign up to Sedex and EcoVadis; platforms that help us to ensure that they are meeting their commitments by increasing transparency on supply chain mapping, reducing environmental risks and providing measurable progress.

Our suppliers aren't in this alone. We will also be providing financial incentives as we roll out a sustainable supply chain program with our finance partner, ING, to support and encourage our suppliers to progress on their sustainability journeys.

At Britvic we take our responsibility to our Healthier People, Healthier Planet sustainability strategy seriously and creating an effective sustainable supply chain has to be done in partnership with our suppliers. The 2022 Supplier Sustainability Summit was a great example of this with suppliers leaving with four key values in mind: commitment, communication, collaboration and continuous improvement.

I owe a huge thank you to all my colleagues who organised the event and those who attended, and it's great to hear such positive feedback from our suppliers. Firmenich, one of our flavour suppliers, summarised the day perfectly and I wanted to share this with you:

"I would like to thank you for your invitation at your supplier summit last week. At Firmenich, our partnership heritage is firmly rooted in the belief that close collaboration is the only way to drive positive change at scale. Collaboration with our stakeholders is integral to our inclusive business model.

"You have enhanced a great momentum on key sustainability topics to boost value creation for all the stakeholders across our value chain. Events such as your supplier day is a fundamental way to learn, raise the bar and achieve our shared ESG ambitions. Thank you again for the invitation and this great initiative!" Firmenich - flavour house

Matt Swindall | Chief Procurement Officer