15^th March 2016 marked the launch of Courtauld 2025 – a world–leading voluntary agreement to work along the entire food chain to reduce the environmental impact of UK food and drink, from farm to fork and beyond. Over 100 signatories including all major UK food retailers, brands, food service companies, trade bodies and local authorities have already signed up.

The UK’s resource efficiency charity WRAP, on behalf of the UK Government and Devolved Administrations, has unveiled a pioneering commitment which brings together organisations from across the food system for the first time to make food and drink production and consumption more sustainable for the future. 

The Courtauld Commitment 2025 is the world–leading voluntary agreement to work along the entire food chain to reduce the environmental impact of our food and drink, from farm to fork and beyond. Signatories announced at the launch of the agreement include the world’s largest food and drink manufacturer, and all the major UK retailers representing over 93% of the 2016 UK food retail market.

• Retailers: Aldi, ASDA, Central England Co-operative, Lidl, M&S, Morrisons, Musgraves, Sainsbury’s, Tesco, The Co-operative Food and Waitrose.
• Brands & manufacturers: ABF UK Grocery Group, ARLA, Birds Eye UK, Coca Cola Enterprises, Heineken, Nestlé UK and Ireland, Premier Foods, Unilever, and Warburtons.
• Hospitality and food service: apetito, Bidvest, Compass, Greene King Retail, KFC, OCS, Pizza Hut, Sodexo UK & Ireland.
• Local authorities: 23 authorities including the London Waste and Recycling Board representing more than 42% of the UK’s population.
• Trade and sector organisations, Government and academia: British Hospitality Association, British Retail Consortium, Chilled Food Association, Dairy UK, Food & Drink Federation, Food Standards Agency, Institute of Hospitality, Sustainable Restaurant Association and WWF. 

The commitment goes further than ever before with three ambitious targets: 

1. A 20% reduction in food and drink waste arising in the UK
2. A 20% reduction in greenhouse gas intensity of food & drink consumed in the UK
3. A reduction in impact associated with water use in the supply chain

The Commitment will drive best practice through its unique whole-system approach to the way food and drink is produced, sold and consumed in the UK. For the first time it will bring all parties together under one voluntary agreement to achieve collective goals. By building on the progress already achieved with retailers, brands, manufacturers and the hospitality sector and bringing in the farming sector and local authorities it will be more challenging, but also more rewarding.  Signatories will work together with WRAP to identify new actions and opportunities to save resources which can be shared across the entire supply chain, to make the whole system more sustainable and resilient to supply chain disruptions. Signatories also commit to implementing changes, measuring the benefits, and helping other businesses and people to realise savings.

Local authorities and trade bodies will be vital in helping engage people in and out of home and raise awareness to a wider range of businesses outside of the main signatory base, essential given the targets extend to UK-wide impacts.

WRAP will report on progress to reflect the combined impact across the entire food system, and estimates that meeting the Commitment targets will deliver £20 billion worth of savings to the UK economy. The majority of the savings will be enjoyed by individuals; with approximately £4 billion in business savings possible. The Commitment will help the UK deliver its part in the objectives of COP 21, and put the UK on track to halve household and retail waste delivering the UN Sustainable Development Goal 12.3. 

Dr Richard Swannell, Director of sustainable food systems at WRAP, said: “The pressures of resource scarcity, population growth and our changing climate will have profound effects on our food supply in the coming years, and business efficiency. To safeguard UK food we need a step-change to increase sustainable food and drink production and consumption, conserve resources and combat climate change. Courtauld 2025 will do this. 

“Collaboration has never been more important, which is why I want to thank the businesses and organisations that have committed to taking action. This is an ambitious undertaking and having key signatories on board on day one puts us in a strong position at the start of this new era for our food industry. I look forward to welcoming other leading organisations as signatories over the coming weeks, months and years and delivering this ambitious agreement.”

WRAP will work directly with industry and other stakeholders to support actions under four main areas: 

• Embedding sustainable principles and practices into the design, buying and sourcing of food; 
• Optimising resource efficiency throughout entire supply chains to help produce more goods using less resources; 
• To influence behaviours around consumption and reduce waste in the home; and 
• To find innovative ways to make the best use of surplus and waste food. 

See here for a list of the signatories.

Notes to editors:

1. Waste target (per capita) - Including UK production, manufacture, distribution, retail, hospitality & food service and households, initially measured post-farm-gate. Pre-farm gate measurement approaches to establish a baseline are under development and will be considered for inclusion at a review point in 2018. In the meantime, collaborative project activities will include a focus on pre-farm gate waste.
2. Greenhouse gas emissions target (per capita) - Including production in the UK & overseas, manufacture, distribution, retail, hospitality & food service and households.
3. Target for impacts of water use - Specific metric and target to be developed and agreed in partnership with signatories.
4. Progress against UK targets will be reported in milestone years (2018, 2021 and 2025) and further data on signatory achievements will be reported annually.