Over the last 10 years, Bord Bia has operated Origin Green, the first national sustainability programme in the world. Powered by collaboration and partnership, Origin Green commits the entire industry, from Irish farmers and processors to foodservice and retailers, to take actions that reduce their carbon footprint and improve their environmental performance. 

This month we hear from Sharon Colgan, Programme Marketing Manager for Origin Green in Bord Bia, about the new Leaders Sustainability Acceleration Programme.

Now is the time to elevate the issue of sustainability to a guiding principle for businesses. Customer demand for sustainability and the national requirement for carbon reduction cannot be dealt with by sustainability professionals working alone and isolated in the organisation. Sustainability must be led by the board and the executive team embedding sustainability into business strategy and investment decisions. Immediate action and the accelerated leadership of sustainability is now an urgent requirement. 

With this in mind, at an event to mark a decade of the Origin Green programme held in June, we announced a new Leaders Sustainability Acceleration Programme in partnership with UCD Smurfit Business School, with the aim of embedding the sustainability agenda across businesses by developing expertise and growing skills at Board and C-Suite level. 

SUSTAINABILITY CHAMPIONS 

The vision of the Leaders Sustainability Acceleration Programme is to create a cohort of senior sector leaders, who will champion sustainability throughout their organisations, equipped with the knowledge, the know-how and the tools to embed sustainability into their core business strategies.  This will be key to advancing the sustainability agenda at the senior leadership level in the Irish food, drink and horticulture industry. 

The need for this programme was identified through conversations with the industry and a follow-up client survey, where over 80% of our client companies said they would like to receive more training for senior leadership teams to better understand and embed sustainability across their businesses.

The dedication to reducing business's contribution to climate change and other Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) objectives has picked up steam. One aspect of the tipping point and the momentum of sustainability on the global policy agenda is, for instance, the formation of the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) at COP26 in Glasgow, and the ensuing requirement for public and private firms to disclose their climate and other ESG impacts.

In Association with

The food, beverage, and horticulture industries are moving quickly in the direction of these developments, which are profoundly affecting how the sector organises resources and distributes our wealth. The Leaders Sustainability Acceleration Programme will enable organisations to take action with confidence.

Defining tomorrow’s essential skills  

Throughout the programme, Senior Leaders will participate in three, three-day modules covering Sustainability in a Strategic and Governance Context, Transitioning to a Sustainable Business and Accelerating Sustainability Opportunities. The overall emphasis of this programme is on the development of actionable insights for these senior leaders and their organisations, and the acceleration of sustainability within their organisation. 

To learn more about the new Leaders Sustainability Acceleration Programme and progress made by Origin Green, visit origingreen.ie