Building a Sustainable Supermarket
Sustainable Foods London will feature a leading debate on Building a Sustainable Supermarket. The panel is made up of Susan Thomas, Senior Director Sustainable Commercial Activities at ASDA, Anna Turrel, Head of Environment at Tesco and Sarah Wakefield, Head of Food Transformation at the WWF.
Supermarkets play a pivotal role in climate change as many of the brands they choose to stock and sell have a direct impact on the planet. We’ll discuss how supermarkets are responding to these challenges and what measures they are implementing across supply chains to help tackle the problem.
The debate will look at phasing out plastics and some of the new initiatives being implemented by leading supermarket brands both in the UK and globally. We’ll explore how responsible sourcing is becoming a key part in supermarket buying policies.
We will also discuss how sustainable supermarkets are physically retrofitting their infrastructure to use less energy, helping to generate electricity from renewable sources like solar panels and hydroelectric turbines.
Meet the panel
Susan Thomas, Senior Director Sustainable Commercial Activities – ASDA
Susan joined Asda in June 2020 into a new role created to drive Asda’s strategic focus on Sustainability. She “quarter-backs” Asda’s cross functional efforts across the Better Planet agenda, mobilising activities including our journeys towards net zero, elimination of waste, optimising packaging and building a greener portfolio. Susan is a member of the BRC’s Climate Action Roadmap Steering Committee and chair of the Customer Engagement pathway.
Susan’s early career was spent at Kantar in insights, analytics and retail consulting, with a particular focus on Shopper Behaviour. Prior to Asda she spent 8 years at PepsiCo in a range of sales strategy and marketing roles, most recently leading the Brand Planning process and Better For You Snacking agenda for West Europe. Susan completed an Executive MBA in 2012 with a final dissertation examining the role of retailers in the obesity crisis.
Sarah Wakefield, Head of Food Transformation – WWF
Sarah is the Head of Food Transformation at WWF. She joined WWF in March 2021 after nearly a decade of experience in food retail, focused on ethics and sustainability. She led the delivery of the Retailers’ Commitment to Nature announced at COP and the refresh of the WWF Basket – the ambition to halve the environmental impact of UK baskets by 2030. Her role is to ensure this ambition is met and to lead WWF’s engagement with the food industry.
Anna Turrel, Head of Environment, Tesco
Anna is Head of Environment for Tesco Plc. At Tesco, Anna is responsible for the Group’s global climate change, sustainable agriculture, sustainable diets, marine and forest sustainability agendas. Anna is also responsible for Tesco’s flagship partnership with WWF. The cornerstone of the partnership focuses around the publication of the Sustainable Basket Metric. Through the Sustainable Basket Metric Tesco and WWF aim to halve the environmental impact of the average UK shopper’s basket and invite wider industry and civil society partners to join in to achieve this shared ambition.
Prior to joining Tesco, Anna was Head of Sustainability for Nestlé UK & Ireland, where she led the development and roll out of an integrated sustainability strategy across the multi-category business. Before moving in-house, Anna spent 10 years in sustainability consultancy in Europe and Asia.
