Can Food Save The Planet? An Abel & Cole case study

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Hi, and welcome to the Sustainable Business Podcast. I'm Will Richardson. We'll start this episode with a question: does food have the power to save the world? Well, today we meet 2 people who firmly believe it can. For over 20 years, they've been on a mission to make shopping sustainably more simple. And one sign of their success is the increasingly common sight of their bright yellow vans delivering organic fruit and veg to our doors. They are, of course, Abel& Cole. Just like us, they're a B Corporation, and here at Green Elements, we've been working with Abel& Cole since 2019, and we're excited to welcome Steph Sarmel and Ed Ayton to talk about the company and particularly their Climate Emergency Project. Now, perhaps Steph, you could kick off by telling us a bit about what you both do at Abel& Cole, but Steph, if you could go first.

Of course. Good morning and thanks for asking us to be part. Well, so with Ed and others in the team, I look for opportunities to decrease any negative environmental and social impact that we have as a business. Now that includes doing our bit for the community through volunteering and charitable giving, proposing strategies for lowering our carbon footprint, informing customers through eco-impact labeling on food products, and diverting food surplus first and foremost to to humans. And also it involves things like ensuring that we have as little packaging as possible and that it's of the most suitable type. And last but not least, that we continue to be a member of the B Corp community just like yourself.

And how about you, Ed?

Yeah, thanks, Will. So I am Sustainability and Farming Communications Manager, a bit of a mouthful, but it represents the fact that I keep my fingers in a lot of pies. So Steph and I work very closely together, as she alluded to, and tackling the bigger problems I like to think that the business faces. So my job title implies that anywhere that we communicate about our sustainability, so anywhere we're talking about soil, biodiversity, carbon, anywhere we're talking about our suppliers, so what our farmers get up to, generally those communications have my prints on it.

Brilliant. And what's it like working at Abel& Cole? Who wants to go first?

Marvelous. Marvelous. I'll go first. I'll dive straight into that one. I've got, you see, I always describe myself as having had a few jobs in my lifetime, and it's great when you finally work for someone that gets you. When you work for a good business, it makes a hell of a difference. I think being part of the B Corp really reaffirmed that because one of the sections of the B Corp is how a company treats its workers. And the way that B Corp describes it is, What kind of effect does the business have outside your working hours? I'm not talking about working unpaid hours, I'm meaning cultural and welfare-wise. And it's amazing. I think a lot of people come to Abel& Cole from a variety of backgrounds, and it's amazing how the brand can really amalgamate that sense of responsibility in all of us. And purpose too. I've spoken quite a bit about purpose over the last few weeks, but it's something that the more you think about it and where you see it embodied in a company like Abel& Cole, you really get to know what that looks like.

And what about you, Steph?

Yeah, a lot of what Ed's just said, but I've just celebrated 17 years at Abel& Cole on Monday. So May 9th, 2005, I started with the company, and back then I worked as PA to Keith Abel, so I got to work with him very closely for a few years, which was fantastic. And, you know, yeah, it's the sort of— there's just no substitute for that sort of charismatic founder personality. And Keith certainly knew our customer base better than anyone and what they were looking for. So, it was a real privilege. And yeah, it's, you know, I've forgotten what it's like elsewhere, to be honest with you, because it's been such a long time now. So, yeah, it's great. And I think the keyword Ed just used was purpose. I think it's more important in our society that we work for businesses that have purpose. And I think at Able& Cole, we have that, and it's a wonderful feeling.

You've just mentioned Able. Now, I was a customer of yours when you were out of a Brixton garage, and I don't know when that was. I don't know if it was pre-2005, to be honest with you. But could you tell us a bit of the history around Abel& Cole and how it all came about?

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, when I joined May 2005, we were actually still at the Mahatma Gandhi Industrial Estate on Millcourt Road in Brixton. But we were in the process of— well, actually, no, were we in the process of moving out? No, not just then, but we had just taken on the production facility in Andover. So that was a big step for us. And it was within a year in 2006, we moved into Waterside way in Wimbledon, which is where we are currently based and have been since. So yeah, back then, gosh, we were about a tenth of the size that we are now, I think. So, you know, we've grown exponentially over the last 17 years. What was it like? I mean, the key thing is, but it's like any small business, you just wear so many hats, don't you? And I mean, until not so long ago, I was still looking after the mobile phone records for the business. You know, it's just one of those legacy things. just sort of randomly stay with you over the years. So, yeah, it was just, we all wore many hats then. And I think as we've grown, you know, we've just become more specialized in the things that we are good at and that we are passionate about. And for me, that's always been the element of sustainability. And I mean, the first project I led back in 2009 was switching from our then polystyrene product Chill Boxes to Woolcool. Yeah, which exactly, which is still one of my favorite projects of all time, switching over to Woolcool with then Angela Morris, today Josie Morris, of course, leads Woolcool. And that was a real privilege working with that family. And we still are working with them very closely.

You've both talked about purpose a bit, and I'd be really interested to know, back in those early days, Would you say that the same purpose-driven business is the same as it is now?

That's an interesting question. So this is something that someone asked me the other day, has the business had to change tack? And upon reflection, I thought the business started in 1998, 1988, Keith Abel lugging a sack of potatoes around Brixton door-to-door. And it was when he went to visit one of his suppliers and his supplier threw open the barn doors, and there was just stacks and stacks and stacks of tin cans with the skull and crossbones on them. And Keith thought, well, we don't wear gas masks when we eat the stuff, so why are we using this? And I like to think of it as the late '80s was a time when you could really make a business out of anything, but it was also when people— there was this sudden mass awareness of the importance of sustainability. And that's a bit of an overused word these days, but it's quite a buzzword back then. And I think we just saw the crossover of this mass awareness with the end of the good old days where you could make a business out of anything. So I think anyone who has been— anyone who's in the— anyone who describes themselves as sustainable these days has probably had to change tack if they're older than Abram Cole. But I'd say we're at the age now, so we're 33, The business, not myself. So I'd say that we probably haven't had to change tack much in that time because a business— so people always, I think purpose, vision, values, mission, these are quite slippery words to define. But for me, purpose, if someone asks me to articulate purpose, and the best way for me to recommend anyone articulates purpose is to think, who is your— what is your business when it's at its best? Who are you when you're at your best? That's how I articulate purpose. And I don't think that's changed in 33 years.

So we've mentioned your Climate Emergency Project. What exactly is it?

Very, very good question. So we first— well, just to backtrack a bit. I mean, we all know by now that we need to cut our emissions by about half by 2030 in order to stand a chance to reach net zero by 2050. And for us, that's meant submitting our reduction targets with your help, of course, Will, to the Science Based Target Initiative and creating a roadmap on how to get there. So the Climate Emergency Project really is just that. It's assessing our carbon footprint, identifying the hotspots, and taking action to mitigate the risks and to drive those emissions down and doing it with the help of businesses like yourself, with credible standards to align ourselves with. such as the SBTi that I've already mentioned. So that really is the climate emergency project for us. For Scope 1 and 2, it's pretty straightforward. You know, the obvious ones are, you know, switching to an electric van fleet, continuing to use renewable energy, which we already do. The slightly less obvious ones perhaps are reducing, you know, reliance on gas, replacing refrigerants with lower carbon alternatives. And, you know, last but not least, of course, reducing our consumption full stop through, you know, better insulation, switching to more carbon-efficient equipment, using LED lighting, etc. Now, Scope 3 makes up about 93% of our total carbon footprint. And that, of course, includes all of our food and drink products. And because the business is forecasted to grow between now and 2030, An absolute reduction will be quite difficult. And so therefore, our target is to see a 53% reduction in intensity on Scope 3 by 2030, with the caveat that our Scope 3 at that stage cannot exceed that of our baseline year 2020. Now, we'll achieve that through working with our suppliers to decarbonise, through lower carbon transport methods, such as using HVO, if not electric, using renewable energy, of course, and focusing sales on lower rather than higher carbon products. Although that said, even our higher carbon products are relatively low compared to the non-organic conventionally farmed products. So why is that so important to us? Well, our mission is to become the most sustainable home delivery service in the UK. And with that comes taking the lead. And we firmly believe that it's morally, legally, and commercially the right thing to do for the business.

We actually worked together to measure the company's carbon footprint. Steph, can you just explain what was measured and perhaps what your biggest carbon hotspots were in relation to that? I think we've talked about the Scope 1 and 2 emissions, but within Scope 3?

Yeah, of course. I mean, so far, your team have measured the calendar year 2019 and 2020 carbon footprint. footprint. For us, we're currently finalizing our 2021 carbon footprint with your help. And as you've said, that includes Scope 1, 2, and 3, of course. Now, carbon hotspots, not surprisingly, were related to meat and dairy and transport. I mean, they weren't— there were really no surprises in there, to be honest. So yeah, I think for us, it It's looking— the next steps for us really is getting the actual data. So as you know, I mean, Scope 3 often is, or primarily is based on proxy data. So we are now looking to reach out to the farms directly to lifecycle assess all these products and to get primary data so that we can then start taking action and and actually, you know, compare where are we. I mean, intuitively we know it's the meat and dairy, but we want to get to the actual data before we start taking any action around that.

Brilliant. And we also did a lifecycle analysis on your fruit and veg boxes. And this is how we evaluate the environmental impacts of a product through its lifecycle, from extraction and processing of the raw materials, manufacturing, distribution, use, recycling, right through to final disposal. Steph, what was it like working through this process?

It was really interesting, is the short answer. I think it's the old adage of you can only manage what you can measure. And of course, what lifecycle assessing does is it allows you to measure the impact. And that was fascinating. And I love working with the data. I think until you have the data, anything is just sort of intuition, isn't it? Or instinct, if you will.

Hmm.

But until you have the data, you really can't take concrete and focused action. But as I was already saying, we're hoping to launch a pilot project this year to further LCA the individual products. And that also will look at the farming, the processing, packaging, and transport to our production site in Andover, Hampshire. And we're hoping to be able to sign a grade for each product, which takes the carbon, the water consumption, water pollution, biodiversity impact for each product into consideration. And to me, that's then sort of, there's threefold wins in that. One is by being able to make this available to our customers, they can then compare products to each other and use this information to influence their purchasing habits. We can also use it to fine-tune our Scope 3 with the addition of the primary data, and we can use it to curate our product range to, you know, focus on lower carbon products once we have that data. And that could influence, you know, what we keep in the range, what we promote and when, certainly have all kinds of implications. Yeah, so I'm very excited about that. We have done a small study on 4 of our FMV V products independent to the box LCA that you undertook. And the individual product LCA compared to the organic— compared to the supermarket equivalents showed that our organic products had more than a 50% reduction of carbon associated with them, which was really fantastic to see. And we'd love to just get to the bottom of that.

Yeah, so I'm really looking forward to the primary data. I'm really looking forward to this data showing just how good our products are, because I think the thing with organic is that the virtue, just as much as the devil, is in the detail. And unfortunately, the research, the lifecycle assessments, they just haven't been done to date. So for us to be able to take those suppliers, take those products through those lifecycle assessments, and, and yeah, really pull out what the true benefits are. It's never been done before, so it is very exciting.

Ed, I guess this is your area. Have you communicated this to your customers?

Yes, and it's something that we're always working on. I think the problem with working for a sustainable business is that you invest so much in the sustainability that you kind of have to leverage a return on it. So a big risk with talking about sustainability is that you quite often forget to remind the customer what's in it for them. But as long as we can keep bringing it back to the benefits of biodiversity, to the benefits of carbon, um, reducing carbon emissions, to the, the benefits of direct trade and working fairly with farmers, I think as long as we can keep making those links back to how good the product tastes and what the benefits are for, for the customer, um, I'm going to shy away from making health claims about organic, but there there are benefits to the consumer when biodiversity is, is increased at the, at the primary producer end. There are benefits to the consumer when soil organic carbon is raised. There are benefits to the consumer when carbon is sequestered. And, and, and all of these, it's really important that we, we keep bringing it back to the, to, to what's in it for the customers. So keep linking it to quality, keep linking it to taste, keep linking it to health. So it's really important that we don't just focus on any one of these topics And that's important for a number of reasons, particularly when you look at carbon. If you were to just measure carbon, for example, you would find that intensive animal farms, animal farming would always win purely for the simple reason that the animals just don't live as long. So yes, we communicate about it nonstop, but it is something that we do have to balance with what the customer will enjoy in the short term.

And I know you've set science-based targets to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions. And this prevents the worst impacts of climate change and future-proofs your business growth. Now, could you tell us a bit about the targets and how you're working towards meeting them?

So our Scope 1 and 2 target is an absolute reduction of 50% by 2030 on baseline 2020. And for us, we know that 80% of our Scope 1 and 2 is associated with our van fleet. So, from next year, we're starting to switch over to electric vans. I'd like to say it's sooner than that. However, as I'm sure you know, the demand currently for electric vans outstrips supply, and, you know, some of the bigger players in the market have sort of filled the books on this. But we are from From next spring, we'll start taking delivery of electric vans, which we're really excited about. And we're hoping to have that transition completed sort of, you know, later in— so come 2027 or so, we're hoping to be fully in electric vans. So that's something we're excited about, and that'll address 80% of our Scope 1 and 2. Now, Scope 3, Because, as I said, we're due to grow over the next few years. It's a 53% intensity reduction that we're looking to achieve. And we'll be doing that working with our suppliers and working on our product range and also just helping suppliers, you know, switch to renewable energy if there are any problems that we can assist with, switching to lower incoming, lower carbon incoming transport. Whether that's, you know, changing over to hydro-treated vegetable oil, HVO, or electric vehicles as and when they're available for that volume of product. So the idea really is that we'll work within our supply chain to help them transition to net zero, just as we're hoping to.

Now, Ed, you have a climate emergency plan that goes beyond carbon. Could you tell us a bit more about that, please?

Yeah, definitely. So the best place to start here is probably with arguably my favorite part of our supply chain, which is the farm. And the reason I wanted to focus here is because this is where I think the serious climate change mitigation is happening. And I'm going to bring it back to one word, which I think has captured the public's imagination in a way that nothing in the farming world has before. And it's regenerative. A regenerative system, a restorative system— personally, I find regenerative farming is a word, it's a term that I take a bit of a run-up to, so I tend to abbreviate it to regen ag or restorative. But a restorative or regenerative system is one that puts back more than it takes out, to put it very, very simply. And you'll find that regen ag farmers or restorative farmers will typically focus on soil health. And this is why I would plant organic farmers firmly into the regen ag farming bracket. So our main certifying body is the Soil Association. They certify over 70% of our products. And the clue really is all in the name. So when the founders were looking at sustainable food systems to model their certification on, they found that they all had one thing in common. When you look after soil, everything else will fall into place. Now, there is a very strong relationship that I'm sure a lot of listeners are aware of There is a very strong relationship between carbon in the soil and its health, and the interplay between, between soil, plants, and sometimes grazing livestock. It's fascinating, it's powerful, and it is completely underestimated. So I'm going to, to very quickly outline a few of the, the restorative or regenerative principles to illustrate how some of this works. So the first one is to not disturb the soil. Do not disturb the soil. Deep plowing has been one of the most destructive practices that we have unleashed on the planet. So when you look at North Africa, North Africa used to be known as the great Roman breadbasket. Middle East, sections of the Middle East used to be known as the Fertile Crescent. This is where wheat came from. Plowing actually releases huge amounts of carbon. It also uses carbon in the form of diesel for machinery. So plowing is something that regenerative farmers will typically stay away from. This is a really interesting, um, quandary with, with organic because weeds are a farmer's worst nightmare. So if you don't plow, you have to use weed killers. Weed killers are banned in organic. So this is why the organic space is really exciting at the moment, because you've got farmers who know they can't plow, are prohibited from using weed killers, so they're finding some amazing ways through, some really innovative and regenerative and holistic and traceable methods. So it's very exciting in our space at the moment in terms of not disturbing the soil. Keeping the soil covered is also absolutely crucial. So there are 2 places that you won't find bare soil— nature, or bare soil for very long. The first is nature, and the second is Denmark. And probably a slight exaggeration there, but the reason I say that is because nature abhors a vacuum. Bare soil represents a vacuum, doesn't stay bare for very long. Denmark in 1999, I think it was, made it compulsory to start growing cover crops on your land. They're also called catch crops, and the clue is again in the name there. Catch, as in they catch excess nutrients, so they can prevent runoff, what we call eutrophication in rivers and waterways, which is algae blooms. Eutrophication is what's causing the dead zones that people are hearing about in the oceans around the world. Off the coast of Brittany, they're also suffering from severe algae blooms from all the intensive pig farms, and people are starting to lose their lives because of these. So it's serious. Denmark have a mitigating solution for that. Another principle in regenerative farming is keeping living roots in the soil. There is no healthy soil without roots, and it's, it's something that we're only just starting to realize the absolute magic of. So plants, when plants, uh, photosynthesize with sunlight, they produce sugars. These sugars are hard work. So why on earth are they sending up to 40% of these sugars back down into the soil. The reason is plants, unlike us, plants can't move, so they need to form defenses. They need to form those strong relationships that they can call on in hard times. Those are those relationships with soil bacteria, soil fungi. There's entire kingdoms that we've only just started to discover, like Archaea, for example. That's a new one for me. So when they send these sugars into the soil, They invigorate that soil microbiome, and it's very much a two-way relationship. Plants look after the bacteria and the fungi, and when the plants need it, they can call on the right, right bacteria and fungi partners to help them out through drought or through pests and diseases. And also, a lot of that carbon that the, that the, that the plant is absorbing from the atmosphere is sent down into the soil in the form of sugars into the mycorrhizal network. If anyone's, uh, if anyone's into mycorrhizals or into fungi, I would highly recommend reading Entangled Life. by Merlin Sheldrake. It's a fascinating read, and he talks a lot about how fungi and the relationship with plants is what gets us out of this mess, the climate change mess. All that carbon is pumped into the ground where it came from, most importantly. Another restorative principle is growing a diverse range of crops. Now, we're touching on biodiversity here, so you might have to jump in and shut me up at some point, but I believe that there is resilience in diversity. Um, people often forget that there's actually 3 levels of diversity. You have diversity in genetics, and when you introduce genetic diversity, you're introducing— you're future-proofing your crop. You have a crop for all weathers, all pests. A good example is cassava in Thailand, otherwise known as tapioca or manioc. So people thought that Thai farmers were going to knacker their soil with the amount of cassava that they were growing, and then some researchers introduced some, uh, some genetics from Venezuelan cassava, and lo and behold, the soil started improving. That genetic diversity has massive benefits on soil. Other types of diversity include species diversity, so things like intercropping again means you can reduce the inputs. And a diversity of ecosystems is the 3rd level of biodiversity, so that means that you can keep things like beneficial insects on your land for a lot longer. A somewhat controversial principle of regenerative farming is bringing grazing animals back to land. I'm not saying you have to eat them, but when they're there, they can make the world of difference. I'm not going to go down the Allan Savory route of advocating cows as a solution for climate change. I'm definitely not going down that route. But there is a lot to be said for ruminants being able to feed, water, and prune a grassland ecosystem. When you look at examples like the Knep Estate or our suppliers Court Lodge, who graze there, who operate what's called conservation grazing on the Pembrokeshire Levels. Um, PFLA, so anything that's, um, that's pasture-raised, 100% pasture-raised, is, um, is PFLA registered. And to keep cattle healthy on nothing but pasture, you have to keep that pasture in tip-top condition, peak productivity, peak fertility. Peak fertility in the form of plants equals peak carbon sequestration. So when used in the right way, all of the above can build soil fertility, and a measure of that is soil organic carbon. So quickly you can see win-win.

Yeah, and this is just— it's something that people don't know about, isn't it? And how are you communicating this to your customers?

Gently, gently, I think, is the, is the term to use. Um, it is, it is something that, um, that, that a lot of people understand on, on different levels, and I I think you just need to inject the magic back into it, you need to inject the storytelling into it, and that's my favorite part of my role. You need to find something that people can relate to, and you just need to be enthusiastic about it. And while I don't really like using the P word, I think passionate goes a long way in communicating this quite well.

Brilliant, brilliant. Thanks so much for that, that's really, really interesting too. to learn. And I guess finally, are there any exciting plans for Abel& Cole that you can tell us about?

Oh, there's lots, but I'll probably leave that to Steph because she knows what we can and can't say.

Well, as I've already alluded to, for me, the eco-impact labeling project is certainly an exciting one only because it'll give us more information and it'll allow us to equip our customers better with that information. But Also, we are working on an impact report, which we're hoping to publish later this month, which is really exciting and just pulling together all the things that we do. And it's one of those things which I'm sure you experienced too, Will, when you went through B Corp certification. But, you know, we do do a lot, but it's not necessarily always documented and always communicated in the best possible way. And we're trying to do that through the impact report, which we're really excited about. Yes, we're looking at all kinds of fascinating things such as, for example, we'll be launching a new product category called Future Food. And it does— it looks at products that are incredibly sustainable. We love the innovation behind it. However, they're not certified organic, which in the past has sort of been, you know, our North Star, as you know. So we are now looking outside organic for products that for primarily that can't be organically certified for one reason or another. So an example of that would be hydroponics. You know, they don't involve soil, so they can't be certified by the Soil Association as organic, but that doesn't mean that they're not incredibly innovatively grown, produced, etc. And so we're on the lookout for products like that that we can highlight and bring to our customers. Just because they're not certified organic doesn't mean we don't want to shout about them and make sure our customers get to enjoy them.

Yeah, that eco-impact labeling, I think, is a huge one. That's going to become as important as nutritional labeling. And I think when you look at anything put on a pack, it's going to influence customer behavior to some extent.

It's great that we're starting to bring sustainability Steph and Ed, thank you so much for joining us today. It's been absolutely fascinating and brilliant talking to both of you.

Great, thank you for having us, Will. It's always good to see you.

Absolute pleasure, Will.

And if you'd like to know more details about this episode and our podcast, you'll find a link in the show description. And don't forget, if you've got any feedback or questions for us, you can DM us @GreenElement through LinkedIn, Twitter, or Facebook. That's it from the Sustainable Business Podcast for this month. Thanks so much for listening, and don't miss next month's special episode on sustainable fashion, which we'll be releasing in mid-June to coincide with London Fashion Week. Until then, take care, and we'll see you soon.