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Harpers' Sustainability Charter: Charting signatories' progress

The Harpers Sustainability Charter continues to gather momentum as new signatories – and partners – join the crusade. Avallen Spirits and Bon Coeur Fine Wines recently signed up, while C&C Group’s Bibendum, Direct Wines and Matthew Clark all pledged their allegiance earlier this year. Forming the central pillar of Harpers’ campaign to drive positive change, its signatories have pledged to tackle the climate crisis head on, reducing the environmental impact of their day-to-day operations; energy efficiency, reduction of carbon footprint and recycling are all key action points that businesses can coalesce around. Yet the trade is also pursuing a diverse agenda, tackling environmental issues in a variety of innovative ways.

“In 2022 we were delighted to sign up to the Harpers Sustainability Charter,” says Sophie Wren, director of marketing at Hatch Mansfield. “Back in 2013, we started working with the Woodland Trust to try to alleviate our impact on the environment through woodland creation and this has resulted in more than 1,650 tonnes of carbon being removed with the planting of more than 8,300 native British trees.”

Alliance Wine, meanwhile, has undertaken an energy audit in order to implement measures to reduce energy usage in line with good practice and training. “Our impact strategy is based on four pillars: planet, people, growth and alliances. Our key objectives for 2023-24 include a decarbonisation plan, reducing the amount of waste we generate and an audit of our greenhouse gases (GHG) inventory,” explains Marta Juega Rivera, Alliance Wine’s sustainability manager.

• Read more: Avallen and Bon Coeur latest Sustainability Charter recruits

Andrew Porton, managing director of the Lanchester Group’s wine division, adds: “There is no one-size-fits-all solution when it comes to sustainability, however we can all agree working collectively brings us ever closer to delivering a sustainable future for the UK drinks trade. The Harpers Sustainability Charter really is the only platform presently uniting all aspects of the trade, allowing us to share our individual journeys, show our progression and communicate best practice.”

Lanchester is one of the trade’s pioneers of renewable energy, with a proven track record for pushing at the boundaries of green technology. In addition to investing £10m in renewable heat and energy generation at its sites across the North East of England, Lanchester has installed new anti-tamper digital thermostats with pre-set temperatures. This gives the company greater control over temperature, which can reduce gas consumption by up to 50%.

“Right now, our primary project is the ongoing development of Greencroft Two, our new £20m home for Greencroft Bottling. Constructed with sustainability front of mind, the building will be the first in the UK to use Quadcore insulation PowerPanels fitted on the roof,” says Porton.

“We expect this level of commitment from our wine suppliers too and we are developing a charter showing how each is progressing its own personal sustainability journey. This applies to both bulk and bottled wine suppliers, and each must demonstrate the changes it is making to lessen its impact on the environment.”

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Incorporating social responsibility

A major priority for all signatories to the charter is, of course, to advance their environmental credentials across the board, meeting strict targets that will bring the trade one step closer to a carbon-neutral footprint. However, businesses are also taking a holistic approach to sustainability, incorporating programmes that advance social responsibility and employee wellbeing.

“There is a common misconception that sustainability is just about climate change and the environment, but in practice sustainability covers social, environmental and economic issues, and for us it’s about the balance of the three,” says Andrew Gale, director of technical and sustainability at Enotria & Coe.

According to Gale, Enotria focused on employee wellness and development last year, which led to the biggest investment in people and training that Enotria & Coe has ever undertaken. “We conducted mental health awareness workshops and trained

16 mental health first aiders, with further courses to be held later this year,” he says. “We also ran yoga sessions and had family fun days and charitable events at our head office in support of Mind UK.”

In addition, Enotria has raised money for a number of charitable causes – it donated all profits from ticket sales of its 2022 Fine Wine tasting to the Red Cross Ukraine Crisis Appeal.

Bibendum, a real stalwart of the trade, is committed to “shaking up the sustainable status quo”, partnering with ethically minded producers while pursuing a positive impact on the planet and communities. The organisation’s sustainability journey started back in 2008 when Bibendum unveiled its Vivid Charter, designed to promote sustainable practices in all aspects of wine distribution.

“We’ve established a diversity, equity and inclusion advisory group, and created distinct employee resource groups as the first step in creating a better workplace for everyone,” reports George Kyle, head of environmental, social and governance (ESG) at Bibendum.

“Through employee engagement, bi-annual surveys and team sessions, we are working to achieve the KPI of improving ‘company-wide diversity, equity and inclusion’. So far, we have introduced a series of initiatives, including training an additional 100 mental health first aiders (MHFAs) and we aim to have one MHFA to every 20 colleagues by 2024.”

North South Wines is another key innovator: the firm has introduced 20 paid hours a year for each employee to do community and charity work; there has been a large take-up of this and a lot of positive feedback.

“From volunteering at food banks, helping refugees to learn English to litter picking and working in a local dog rescue shelter, it has encouraged our employees to not only do their paid time, but also extra outside of work hours,” says Rebecca Murphy, North South Wines’ sustainability manager.

“Many charities need a commitment of a certain amount of time for volunteering, this provides our team the opportunity to be involved in worthwhile projects they otherwise would not be able to do. Our goal is to have 0.1% of total hours worked and more than 80% of the workforce to be involved.”

Murphy adds that North South Wines is on course to achieve B Corp certification in 2023, which will showcase the firm’s move to consider all stakeholders’ opinions in its decisions and actions.

She says: “Alongside this we have a set of targets we are aiming for by 2025, including all our environmental management systems to be ISO 14001 certified; our office electricity to come from renewable sources; all our sales team to be on our electric car scheme; to work with our significant suppliers to ensure they have social and/or environmental certifications; and achieving annual high scores for our workers and customer satisfaction surveys.”

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Coming together

With interest in the Charter continuing to grow, its remit is now extending beyond the boundaries of corporate boardrooms and staff workplaces. Indeed, although its signatories are pursuing a range of different goals – many of them complementary – there is a consensus that businesses must do more to engage with stakeholders in the wider community. To that end, Hatch Mansfield now invites its team and customers to vote for their favoured carbon offset project to address the annual CO2 created by the distribution of its wines from London City Bond, plus business travel and office operations.

“This is something everyone can get involved with,” enthuses Wren. “Since 2015 we have offset over 7,000 tonnes of CO2 through these gold standard carbon footprint projects, such as our current supported project, the Buenos Aires Renewable Energy Project in Argentina, which focuses on reducing deforestation and greenhouse gas emissions to promote a more sustainable supply chain while also improving the livelihoods of local communities and employees.”

This is perhaps the most noble aspect of sustainability: its ability to bring diverse groups together in the push towards a brighter future. “We signed the Charter because we have a moral imperative to do the right thing,” says Gale. “Enotria & Coe believes that we have a unique position in the industry to lead the conversation and support our buyers, producers and customers on their sustainability journeys.”

In addition, Enotria & Coe will be running a sustainability-themed masterclass at the upcoming LWF, moderated by Harpers, where its producer Sustainability Champions will be able to talk directly to the audience. Of course, major challenges remain, not least soaring inflation, the imposition of higher alcohol duties, and an ongoing labour shortage. Yet the trade’s resolve to weather the storm has not diminished, as businesses unite around a cause that can bring out the best in everyone.

• Harpers Sustainability Charter