Ever the optimist, I feel sustainability is becoming even more an accepted part of our lives. And that is the goal… to make the planet sustainable and for us all to change our ways over the course of the next 15 years or so.
Don’t get me wrong, the here and now is crucial too. The Budget was a blow for all of hospitality, especially pubs. It puts even more pressure on pubs, both groups and independents to improve on sales and to have the right people, who are efficient, in our businesses. And we just have to focus on that right now. I get that. The pressure to survive is on... again.
So you may have missed news from COP 29. That’s the meeting of all the countries each year to keep agreeing the way forward in sustainability commitments to ensure climate change stay in limits which we can survive.
The big news is we, the developed countries, have agreed to fund the developing countries $350bn per year by 2035 to support their transition to a low carbon world. They also agreed how to develop a carbon market to trade emissions for offsets. I think this will mean more likelihood of legislation and tax to encourage net zero in UK on time. This is good on balance because it will make us focus on net zero actions a bit more.
Saving money
Never forget, most net zero initiatives are making our business waste less (power, food, plastic, etc). And as the bigger businesses have proved to themselves, doing net zero actions is saving money.
There was also news on EV cars, for which legislation was enacted early. This is changing the motor and petrol industry forever. That change is way bigger than for hospitality. EV cars are still on the way, albeit the transition is not smooth. Government is considering how to make it smoother and will act sensibly and quickly, I hope. No necessary change of this size comes without adjusting the path as we go.
Finally, a recent report from Nutritics has proved in a survey what many of us enthusiasts know. Sustainability is critical for our team, those aged under 35 will be the ones who would suffer most from climate crises. We have had even more hurricanes, storms, floods and fires this year. Imagine 30 years from now.
Retaining team members
The survey states nine in ten (91%) staff say an environmentally friendly and sustainable lifestyle is important to them and more than two thirds (68%) are likely to think about sustainability when deciding where to eat or drink.
This is reassuring for us enthusiasts and those in need of saving money because it will help us all make the changes we need to. And more than two in five (43%) staff would consider resigning from a job if their company had a poor record on sustainability while 19% say they have already done so.
Sustainability change is here to stay. So maybe in 2025, you should think about how to engage with your team on sustainability. Create a small group of enthusiasts or start progress to net zero.
After all, the only way to grow sales and have skilled, efficient team members is to keep those you have for as long as possible. Many of them will consider leaving if you do nothing.
