Net zero in the food sector

Re-broadcasted: 22 September 2022

Time: (10:00 – 11:40 UK time)

What’s this webinar about?

BSI’s Net Zero Week provides a multi-sectoral view of the collective challenges that must be met for the UK to reach our net zero carbon emissions target by 2050. This session looks at current challenges for the food sector around performance, and outlines some key initiatives towards achieving net zero in the food chain.  

Who should watch the webinar?

• Food producers
• Food manufacturing organizations
• Hospitality
• Healthcare
• Food retail brands

Participants will hear first-hand about:

• WRAP’s latest work on GHG Scope 3 emissions accounting
• The Food & Drink Federation’s recently launched Achieving Net Zero handbook
• The Environment Agency and University of Cambridge project on standardized metrics to help food and drink businesses with their environmental performance
• Industrial Biotechnology Innovation Centre (IBioC) case studies on agritech innovations that reduce reliance on traditional methods and promote sustainability

Discover all the topics, expert insights, and guidance covered during this food webinar, to help kickstart your net zero journey.

Sara Walton is the Agri-food Sector Lead for BSI, which is the UK’s National Standards Body and a member of ISO.

She has over 10 years’ experience of standardization development and related solutions. Sara has led UK committees working in, amongst other subjects, food safety management, quality management and occupational health and safety.  

Sara explores key challenges for sectors related to food, retail, and services, alongside practitioners and experts. 

Prior to working for BSI, Sara worked in business to business information publishing, creating, and delivering, knowledge solutions for organizations based on their legal and compliance needs.

Emma joined the Food and Drink Federation in October 2019 and has led on developing and now delivering the sectors Roadmap to Net Zero.  Emma spends time working with stakeholders across the farm-to-fork supply chain and with other industrial sectors, to help food and drink manufacturing in the decarbonisation challenges ahead.  Building upon the momentum created by the UK hosting COP26, Emma is focused on industry alliances to tackle the shared challenges and align on industry led solutions.  Before joining FDF, Emma held a number of policy and regulation roles with RWE AG, RWE Npower Cogen, Elexon, Sustainable Energy Association, First Utility (now Shell Energy) and National Grid Gas.

Sophie Harrison is a specialist in Greenhouse Gases (GHG) in supply chains with WRAP, where she helps food businesses to follow key principles of GHG measurement through relevant working groups under the Courtauld 2030 Commitment. She is part of the WRAP team that will launch a set of agreed principles for scope 3 GHG accounting for UK food businesses in 2022. Prior to taking up this role at WRAP, Sophie worked at G’s, an international fresh produce grower and packer, leading implementation of GHG accounting and establishing an ESG strategy.

Lili Jia is a Senior Research Associate and leads the Incentivising Sustainability Programme at the University of Cambridge. She holds a PhD in Economics, an M.Sc. in International Trade and a B.Sc. in Management. 

Her research interest focuses on developing interdisciplinary approaches to motivate public health and environmental sustainability. She works closely with government bodies and industries to help them design effective strategies and facilitate the transformation to a healthier and more sustainable society. Since 2019, she has been working closely with the Environment Agency and the Food Standards Agency to develop an incentive-based approach to improving environmental sustainability and food safety respectively.

Senior Advisor within the Head Office Compliance team, providing strategic direction for environmental regulation across England, focussing on the use of incentives and earned recognition.

Previously an environmental regulator/auditor with 9 years’ experience, working across a number of different sectors.

Specialism within environmental permitting regulations, management systems, amenity issues, fire prevention and intensive farming.

Lynsey joined the IBioIC Business Engagement team as Senior Business Engagement Manager in July 2020 and she leads on Agri, Food, Drink, Renewable Energy and Data for the Centre, including supporting IBioIC’s membership base working in this space. She also supports strategic projects that have been identified in the Centre’s Business Plan and through the National Plan for Industrial Biotechnology.

Lynsey brings a strong understanding of the public sector and political landscape from her previous experience at Scottish Enterprise, where she had roles as both a Grants Appraisal Officer for R&D grant applications and more recently in the Life & Chemical Sciences sector team, where she was the strategic lead for Industrial Biotechnology (IB) and she supported national strategic IB projects and initiatives, as well as supporting company growth in the IB industry. She also undertook a secondment in Scottish Government working on IB policy development.

Prior to joining Scottish Enterprise, Lynsey worked as an R&D chemist at the distillers William Grant & Sons where she primarily focused on the optimisation of their anaerobic digestion process. Lynsey also holds a PhD in Bio-Inorganic Chemistry and a BSc Hons in Natural Sciences both from the University of Strathclyde.

                   CPD Accredited

BSI is committed to the UN Sustainable Development Goals, with this webinar contributing to Goal 13 on climate action and its impacts.