A thirst for wellbeing

Alison Rothnie, Head of Sustainability and Public Policy at Britvic, outlines the growing importance of sustainability and stakeholder trust at the famous soft drinks company.

Can you tell us about your role at Britvic and how the two parts of the role interact?

I have been leading Britvic’s approach to sustainability for seven years, creating our ‘A Healthier Everyday’ sustainability strategy and working with stakeholders, both internally and externally, to build the trust and respect of our communities. Recently my scope has expanded to cover public policy in response to the changing external landscape. For example, the crossover of issues between the two disciplines, such as single-use plastics. This is understandably an area of focus for Britvic and so it makes complete sense to coordinate our public policy and sustainability initiatives. Overall, there’s plenty to keep me busy!

Your 2018 Annual Report has worked well for you, and not just because of it winning the Sustainability Award at the recent PLC Awards ceremony. What got you into integrated reporting?

Sustainability issues are integral to the long-term success of the business, and we are very keen to demonstrate this explicitly in our reporting. We think it’s a good way to communicate our work and enhance our reputation among stakeholders. For example, health – of people, the planet and communities – is a critical part of our sustainability strategy and we are able to explore the topic in full in our annual reports, from how we can help combat rising obesity levels with our reformulation programme to discussion of the soft drinks industry levy (SDIL). 

Your last Annual Report highlights six of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as directly relevant to Britvic. Where will your focus be in 2019?

We chose that particular set of SDGs as they link most closely to our day-to-day business operations. The SDGs, at their headline level, are quite broad so I think it’s important that businesses focus on those most relevant. For us, that meant focusing on the areas where we felt we had the greatest opportunity to make a positive difference – take SDG 3 ‘Good Health and Wellbeing’ as a good example. Within this goal there are targets in relation to reducing non-communicable diseases including obesity and diabetes. These issues are highly relevant to our business and something, through our leading approach to health, we have an opportunity to positively impact. Our focus areas remain unchanged for the year ahead. However, we have one eye on our next business horizon – 2025 – so we will review our choice of SDGs and some elements may change.

Your ‘A Healthier Everyday’ programme really seems to have taken hold. How did you achieve such good take up – internally and externally?

Britvic has had a sustainability programme in place for several years, but in 2016 we took the opportunity to link it more explicitly to our purpose and our ‘A Healthier Everyday’ strategy was born! This strategy focuses on making a positive difference to the world around us – helping to make it healthier, happier and more sustainable under the pillars of Healthier People, Healthier Communities and Healthier Planet.

We introduced Executive-level champions for each of the three areas, which has integrated the ownership of appropriate KPIs – for example, delivery of our calorie reduction target is highly dependent upon brand activity. Our Marketing Council, through the leadership of our Chief Marketing Officer, has therefore been made accountable for overseeing progress against this KPI. The launch of our ‘A Healthier Everyday’ strategy also provided a great platform for us to talk externally – especially with our investors and customers, two important stakeholder groups to engage with and who are increasingly interested in the sustainability agenda.

Britvic finds itself in a world with a very different approach to diet, health and wellbeing issues than when it started 80 years ago. How does that affect your business?

When it was founded, the business was built on bringing an affordable source of vitamins and minerals to people at a time when they were not easily available. We have the history and heritage to help us address the present challenges of obesity and diabetes in society and through the Healthier People pillar of our sustainability strategy we are making it easier for people to make healthier choices and live healthier lives. Healthier People has three streams:

Reformulating drinks – i.e. reducing sugar content.

Continuous innovation – for example, using different sweetener systems and creating new products such as ‘zero proof’ drinks for adults looking for alternatives to alcohol.

Responsible marketing – to educate and motivate consumers so they can make an informed choice. By adopting a responsible marketing code, Britvic ensures it does not market its products to children.

Awards are one thing, but have you or your colleagues in investor relations noticed any interest in your sustainability efforts from the investment sector?

Over the past year, we’ve seen a significant increase in investor interest in environmental, social and governance (ESG) matters, with investors wanting to understand how we are managing the risks and opportunities sustainability issues present. Plastics, in particular, has been a hot topic, with investors keen to hear about the potential impacts of the numerous policy consultations we’re currently facing in the UK and our plans to mitigate any risks. Clearly, this is an area where sustainability and long-term value creation have a strong correlation and we are very keen to demonstrate that by sharing our story.

Stakeholder and employee engagement are key topics, too. Have you involved all Britvic people in your ‘A Healthier Everyday’ programme?

Success in our ‘A Healthier Everyday’ programme relies on getting colleagues fully engaged and supportive of the goals we’ve set and how everyone can help us achieve them. We use a multitude of different channels to engage with employees across our different geographies and sites including team briefings, online chat groups, network groups, site screens and display boards, and reports and scorecards. One of the best platforms for engagement is our Yammer chat group, where all employees are able to ask questions and share ideas on how we can improve our programme further.

How about the future of sustainability – what are the key challenges and opportunities that it presents for a business?

With consumer knowledge and concern for sustainability issues growing and with consumers demanding more from business than ever before, sustainability will become ever more mainstream. This is a fantastic opportunity for consumer-facing brands. Business leaders are starting to recognise this and more and more sustainability topics are becoming hygiene factors. Despite this, challenges remain around the disconnect between business approaches – for example, reconciling long payback periods on sustainability investments with short-term investor expectations.

Head of Sustainability and Public Policy