The Trinity Forum: People & Planet
Growing travel retail in the right way
A special session devoted to themes of protecting the planet and nurturing people in travel retail featured Diageo Global Travel Managing Director Andrew Cowan, SSP Group Head of Sustainability Verity Lawson and ACI World Director General Luis Felipe de Oliveira, in conversation with co-moderators SPARK Group President & Founder Heidi Van Roon and The Moodie Davitt Report President Dermot Davitt.
Outlining SSP’s Environmental, Social & Governance roadmap, Lawson assessed the key sustainability issues and challenges in the F&B sector. She said: “Global food production is estimated to contribute to over one-third of total GHG emissions every year – that’s ten times more than aviation.
“This isn’t just an environmental issue, it’s a social one too in terms of food security and the impact of climate change on people’s lives. We also know almost a billion people are going hungry every day, and yet a third of all food produced for human consumption is wasted.
“These are some pretty scary figures and can see overwhelming,” Lawson added. “However, despite this, there are plenty of reasons to be optimistic.
Andrew Cowan (centre) on the Diageo ESG roadmap; (left and bottom left) SSP's Verity Lawson addressed the key theme of food sustainability through the lens of a leading F&B operator; (below left) Luis Felipe De Oliveira on the challenge for aviation
“There was a 30% increase on ACI carbon accredited airports in 2022. Renewable energy is now really taking off, with many airports being at the forefront of this transition.
“There are also major investments in sustainable aviation fuel and infrastructure, particularly in the US, UK and Nordic countries. And just in the last year, the rapid developments on Artificial Intelligence could be a game-changer in providing technological solutions across many different sustainability challenges.”
Lawson presented SSP’s long-term sustainability roadmap. “We established our global sustainability strategy in 2021, focused on the three pillars of Product, Planet and People. We have quantifiable targets for each issue to 2025 – including for 100% certified hot beverages and cage-free eggs, 100% sustainable packaging, and 40% women in leadership roles.
“And our ambitious target to reach net-zero GHG emissions across our value chain by 2040 – importantly this covers are whole value chain across all three scopes, including our supply chain, brand partners and client sites.”
In a strong presentation about the role of brands in making transformational change in society and the economy, Cowan outlined Diageo’s ‘Society 2030: Spirit of Progress’ roadmap and its commitment to positive drinking.
He said: “We want to change the way the world drinks for the better by celebrating moderation and continuing to address the harmful use of alcohol, expanding our programmes that tackle underage drinking, drink-driving and binge drinking and leveraging our industry-leading DrinkiQ platform.”
Diageo plans to change the attitudes of five million people by 2030, educate ten million young people, parents and teachers on the dangers of underage drinking by 20230, and reach one billion people with targeted moderation messaging.
Diageo, he said, is also committed to championing gender diversity with the ambition to achieve 50% representation of women in leadership roles by 2030, improve the livelihoods of 200,000 people through its Learning for Life and other skills initiatives projects and have 45% of leaders from ethnic backgrounds by 2030. It has also pledged to share its skills and resources through 1.5 million training sessions through the Diageo Bar Academy.
Cowan added: “We believe that Diageo Global Travel needs to be representative of our international travelling consumer. We also believe that we do our best when we bring our whole selves to work. That means embracing our diversity and ensuring an inclusive environment in which everyone can thrive.
“We want to bring this to the wider travel retail community. We are also harnessing the deliberately inclusive brand campaigns of global brands such as Smirnoff, Baileys and Ciroc to extend our commitment.”
Offering the wider airports perspective, de Oliveira said: “We are all aligned on the shared goal of growing our business sustainability. Airports and retailers must continue to anticipate and adjust to changes as international travel recovers. Retailers are crucial to the customer experience, energy transition and sustainable growth of the air transport system.”
Diageo and SSP have highly ambitious targets in their own fields, as outlined by Andrew Cowan (above) and Verity Lawson (below)
“ACI World has 2,000 members and that represent 95% of global traffic in terms of passengers. Of these 2,000, almost 500 are already participating in the Net Zero Carbon promise via the ACI Accredited Programme,” he added.
“We believe that green finance will be a key part of the process and so we have to take ESG seriously. Airports need more than US$2.4 trillion in investment for greenfield and brownfield to address the transition to clean energy.”
In an emphatic conclusion about the power of the industry to do good, de Oliveira said: “In 20 years we will double the size of the industry. We need to do this while addressing the most important issues in the industry in terms of people, planet and of course partnership.
“We need to work together to create the airports of tomorrow. We cannot be spectators to the future. We need to transform airports from passenger hubs into energy hubs. Airports can further lead and change the future of aviation for the better.”
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The Moodie Davitt eZine
Issue 329 | 22 November 2023
The Moodie Davitt eZine is published 14 times per year by The Moodie Davitt Report (Moodie International Ltd). © All material is copyright and cannot be reproduced without the permission of the Publisher. To find out more visit www.moodiedavittreport.com and to subscribe, please e-mail kristyn@moodiedavittreport.com