Happy Friday!

What we’re covering this week:

• How Wyke Farm is carving a niche in ‘green cheese’.

• What is the Race to Zero, and are you already involved?

• In case you missed it: Rubies in the Rubble are packing a punch in the fight against food waste.

> Good News This Week

🎯  Feel Good Drinks has become the first UK soft drink to declare that they're carbon positive, by offsetting twice the 206 tonnes of carbon produced in 2020. In partnership with Planet Mark, they have also committed to being Carbon Net Zero by 2030.

🎯  Innocent Drinks have swapped their plastic straws on kids smoothies to paper ones. 

🎯  KIND Snacks UK have partnered with City Harvest and FareShare UK, who collect surplus food to feed the community, by donating with every bar sold until the end of June. 

⭐️  Unilever has partnered with food tech company ENOUGH - Sustainable Protein to supply Unilever brands with zero waste mycoprotein. Roll out will begin with The Vegetarian Butcher. 

⭐️  Some of the UK’s largest consumer goods companies and supermarkets, like Mars, Mondelēz International and Sainsbury's have jointly launched a £1m Flexible Plastic Fund, with the intention of making plastic bags, wrappers, films etc more easily recyclable. 

⚡️ Royal Dutch Shell received a ground-breaking court order to cut carbon emissions by 45% by 2030. 

> Click on each item to read more.

> Brand Spotlight

Wyke Farm Cheddar have carved their own niche in the market. How? By marrying tradition with green innovation.

Cheese. It’s cracking, but it hardly enjoys a reputation as a ‘green option’. With the rise of plant-based diets, the dairy industry is swimming against the tide. Wyke Farm Cheddar, however, are turning the tide it in their favour. 

Wyke Farm is a traditional family business. Farming the same Somerset land for 150 years and still following Grandmother Ivy’s recipe, they’re as “English pastoral” as it comes. This image isn’t as inherently appealing as it once was. With increasing awareness about the carbon-footprint of dairy products, the industry needs to innovate to alleviate these concerns. This is precisely what Wyke Farm is doing. Rather than resting on its traditions, Wyke Farm has used its history as a justification for embracing sustainability. They cherish the land, guarding it for future generations. They aim to make their ancestors, and their children, proud. According to their website, even their cows’ ancestry is tied to the land. With this message, they’ve crafted an endearing, strong and (crucially) unique brand identity.

Hiring an entire ‘green team’, Wyke Farm has a comprehensive, ‘100% Green’ strategy. Areas of land are left uncultivated to allow native insects and fauna to flourish. They use water and heat recovery systems, their vehicle fleet is entirely electric and they’ve installed solar panels to power the typically energy-intensive milk cooling process. Their flagship, though, is a vast Biogas plant that digests manure, cheese by-products and even waste from neighbours into gas and electricity that goes back into the grid. 

This strategy is impressively publicised. With a Sustainability Visitor Centre, strategic partnerships with the likes of BeeBee Wrap and a well-hyped launch of a carbon-neutral cheddar in partnership with Lidl, Wyke Farm is filling a self-created market niche: green cheese. Through marketing, they’ve capitalised on their already impressive sustainability strategy. Milked it, if you will.

What next?

• Visit Wyke Farm’s Visitor Centre to learn about sustainable agriculture.

• Familiarise yourself with sustainability marketing.

• Identify your market niche (but make it true to your business)! 

Sounds tasty? Support Wyke Farm:

Shop Wyke Farm

Haven’t subscribed to Following the Footprints yet?

> Quick Take

Race to Zero: Are you in?

Race to Zero is a global campaign mobilising a coalition of net zero initiatives with a combined total of 3,500 members, of which 2,162 are businesses. All members commit to the same goal: halving emissions by 2030, and reaching net zero emissions by 2050 at the latest. Race to Zero is the largest ever alliance committed to net zero, covering 15% of the global economy.

Businesses are required to set net zero targets for 2050, and a science-based interim target for the next 10 years. Crucially, they must explain how they intend to meet those, and then start taking immediate action to deliver on them. Recent updates to the criteria for signatories include: required interim targets, ‘sinks and credits’ replacing references to ‘offsetting’ and clarifications that targets must cover ALL greenhouse gas emissions. 

STEP 1: Get started on your net zero mission today!

• Science Based Targets - A Step By Step

• Looking for help? Pip and Nut use The Carbon Trust. 

• Good Business offer comprehensive strategy consulting. A partner of Net Zero Now, they have a dedicated decarbonisation service. Check them out!

STEP 2: Find a Race to Zero Partner…

Individual businesses of all sizes are invited to join via an official Race to Zero partner:

• Business Ambition for 1.5C

• B Corporation 

• Business Declares

• The Climate Pledge

• SME Climate Hub

• Exponential Roadmap Initiative 

• Pledge to Net Zero

• UK Business Group Alliance for Net Zero (members include the Food and Drink Federation and the Federation of Small Businesses). 

So - if you’re pending B Corp, or unsure of how to pledge your commitment to decarbonisation, there are actions you can take and alliances you can join to publicly commit to net zero in the 6 month countdown to COP26. 

Join The Race

> In case you missed it

Interview: Rubies in the Rubble are packing a punch in the fight against food waste.

Featuring Jenny Costa, Founder and CEO.

Read the Full Interview

> Follow up with…

1. Event: Pushing Past Plastic: How Brands Can Be Part of the Solution

2. Article: How do carbon offsets fit into a net-zero future?

3. Article: Can the B Corp movement really drive change?

4. Check It Out: SME Climate Hub

5. Shop: 20% off ALL Rubies in the Rubble with the code ‘FOOTPRINTS’ at the checkout!