As a sustainability expert at a food production company, I often feel that we’re standing at the intersection of two worlds: one, a planet facing climate urgency, and the other, a competitive market pushing us to deliver more with less. Balancing these forces demands strategy, innovation, and resilience. Today, I’ll share how our company tried to tackle the intertwined challenges of climate change and business intelligence while staying competitive.
Setting Foundations: Understanding Climate Challenges
To address climate challenges, we first needed to understand what they mean for our industry sector. For us, sustainability isn’t just about reducing emissions; it’s about embedding climate consciousness into everything we do. Our journey began with setting foundational climate strategies in sustainable usage of resources, efficient and conscious energy use as well as climate education.
Our first major step was investing in renewable energy sources and establishing climate policies across the company accompanied educational sessions to inform the employees about the context.
We shifted our supplier management by asking for carbon-neutral providers and encouraged engineers to create energy-efficient products reflecting their carbon footprint.
We also developed products that offer a chance to track and reduce environmental footprints for our customers. By embedding climate responsibility into our products, we’ve turned sustainability into a core principle, positioning us for the long journey ahead.
The Tipping Point: Moving Beyond Incremental Change
For years, we made gradual progress. But we eventually hit a tipping point where small, incremental changes were no longer enough. The intensifying impacts of climate change and new regulations required us to act more boldly. This shift prompted us to ask, “How can we become a leader in sustainability?” rather than simply “How can we comply?”
Our response was to set ambitious climate goals and encourage every team to align with them, hence, to install monetized climate targets at the management level. Product teams began embedding environmental tracking tools into our development tools, enabling clients to monitor and reduce their footprint. This shift transformed us from passive participants in sustainability to proactive leaders. By embedding climate metrics directly into our products, we extended our impact to clients across industries, helping them make sustainable choices as easy as possible e.g., with illustration.
Leverage Points: Maximizing Impact with Strategic Focus
With our commitment to climate leadership, we focused on leverage points - small areas where targeted action could yield substantial results. Our strategy included enhancing product features, strengthening supply chain partnerships (e.g. upstream producers), and refining processes in ways that magnify our impact. A key tactic was integrating climate data analytics into our supplier evaluation tools, enabling suppliers to analyze operations, identify inefficiencies, and make data-driven changes that benefit both their bottom line and the environment. This approach empowers customers to monitor and manage their carbon footprints and helps us include suppliers in recording and handling Scope 3 emissions. Beyond products, we aligned our supply chain with sustainability goals, prioritizing green-practice suppliers. This created a ripple effect, extending our impact and contributing to a more sustainable ecosystem. These actions transformed sustainability from a niche initiative into a core driver of innovation and growth. Additionally, by applying effective leverage points, we encourage suppliers to adopt sustainability as a core value (mindset shift), not just for our needs but for their own process chains and food product development.
Reinforcing Feedback: Adapting to Continuous Improvement
Sustaining momentum requires robust feedback mechanisms that allow us to track progress, learn, and adapt. Climate strategies must be dynamic, adjusting to shifts in both environmental needs and market conditions. To achieve this, we created real-time data feedback loops that constantly monitor our sustainability metrics.
For example, if energy consumption spikes at one of our raw material storage facilities, we can investigate immediately and make adjustments. This real-time feedback enables us to stay proactive, allowing us to make quick course corrections when necessary. Our data-driven approach keeps us agile, ensuring we can respond to both operational challenges and environmental targets in the relevant upstream chain.
Reflections on Industry Challenges and Market Pressures
Our approach is in a keen contrast to industry trends, as a report on this was published in “the German ‘Handelsblatt’ on 12.06.2024". Internal research from “Handelsblatt” highlighted how companies like Mercedes, ThyssenKrupp, AIDA, and TUI Cruises struggle to meet sustainability goals due to competing priorities like cost-cutting, cybersecurity, and digital transformation. For many companies, sustainability often gets pushed aside as they focus on immediate business pressures.
We face similar pressures in the food tech industry, where there is constant demand to innovate, reduce costs, and stay competitive. However, we view sustainability as integral to our competitiveness. By aligning environmental goals with our business objectives, we differentiate ourselves in the market and build long-term resilience. While others may see climate strategies as expensive or secondary, we see them as essential for our growth and a competitive advantage that enhances our brand and customer loyalty.
Conclusion: Building a Future-Ready Business
Our journey toward sustainability has taught us a crucial lesson: sustainability isn’t a side project - it’s a foundation for future-ready businesses and long-term profitability. By setting strong foundations, recognizing tipping points, identifying leverage points, and reinforcing feedback systems, we’ve developed a sustainable, adaptable model that balances environmental responsibility with market competitiveness.
As we look to the future, we remain committed to empowering our clients, partners, and industry peers to adopt sustainable practices. Together, we can create a business ecosystem where food and technology, likewise sustainability go hand-in-hand, leading us toward a greener, more resilient future.
Author: Caroline Dierkes, Student of MBA Sustainability Management Class 2 (2024-2026)