As new environmental legislation comes into force Aethr Associates says this provides an opportunity to de-risk an agrifood company.

ESG (Environmental stewardship, Social responsibility, and corporate Governance) reporting focuses on reducing an organisation’s impact, promoting productivity and increasing long-term business resilience.

So when the Summer Berry Company was acquired by ethical investor Cibus, the company was required to introduce comprehensive ESG reporting.

Spurred by this experience and its benefits, two of the directors, Ben Jones and Richard Bonn, who led The Summer Berry Company through this transition have now established their own company, Aethr Associates. It aims to help others incorporate ESG principles into their own business strategies and turn that strategy into action.

Aethr Associates has recently become a member of Agri-TechE , so we took this opportunity to ask about the increasing importance of ESG and the pressure to improve business footprint and impact increasingly coming from consumers, customers and from the steady increase in reporting requirements.

Q What impact do you think the impact of ESG and TCFD will have on the agri-food industry?

We are seeing a cascading effect from big retail and big food down to suppliers. This is being driven by changes in their disclosure requirements like TCFD or Corporate Sustainability Reporting (CSRD in the EU), but also by consumer pressure on both big brands and retailers which is impacting their purchasing strategies and discussions with their supply chains.

The challenge for complex primary producers, like many fresh produce businesses, is that they have extensive environmental and social touch points and so require a well-structured approach to ESG.

The ESG Strategy and Reporting framework encompasses carbon footprinting, input reduction, water efficiency, biodiversity improvement, labour welfare and climate risk, which helps to transition the impact of a company and gives confidence to staff, stakeholders and investors.

As Aethr Associates we have refined the learnings we have gained from The Summer Berry Company to help businesses to incorporate ESG principles into their own businesses. The process also brings other benefits in terms of insights and efficiency improvements.

Q There is much talk about Scope 3 emissions (GHG emissions produced by suppliers in the value chain); do you think that food producers are ready for these regulations?

It is widely accepted that Scope 3 emissions are by far the largest part of most food producers’ carbon footprints, but they’re the least understood or mapped.

It still feels like the food industry is some way off from taking meaningful action on Scope 3 reductions, with some other industries moving much more rapidly.

Last year, big retail (and big brand manufacturers) passed down sign-up deadlines for their big supplier partners to reduce their emissions, with the likes of SBTi (Science Based Targets Initiative) or Manufacture 2030 as required accreditations.

Q For companies gearing up for ESG where do you suggest they start?

A pragmatic place to start is by measuring the carbon footprint of your business. Aethr can help identify the best option on how this is achieved, from self-measurement to sophisticated software platforms. Aethr can also facilitate an ESG strategic review to help companies to identify priority projects that will improve footprint and impact and significantly build medium to long term business resilience.

We firmly believe that companies with a strong ESG strategy will be more profitable and value creating, and to help our clients we have developed six guiding principles:

1. Businesses require pragmatic and practical impact plans
2. As expectations increase, prioritisation is fundamental
3. ESG is more than just environmental impact
4. Sustainability and climate factors will impact commercial outcomes for businesses
5. Climate change will impact on a business’s ability to operate
6. ‘Impact’ resilient businesses will win through in the next ten years

To support companies on this journey, we can offer a series of other services including sustainability strategy workshops, ESG advice for company boards, business resilience evaluation, climate risk assessment, and ESG manager training and mentoring.