05 February 2025

Suma Wholefoods share their climate action story

A group of people crouch amongst long grass working together to plant trees
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Suma Wholefoods, a signatory of the Yorkshire & Humber Climate Action Pledge, are making great strides in action for climate, nature and people. YHCC Associate Kate Smith caught up with Ben Pearson at Suma to learn more about their journey so far.

 

Suma is a wholefood collective founded in 1977, delivering over 7,000 vegetarian, natural, healthy and responsibly sourced products to businesses and communities across the UK and internationally. They’re also the largest equal pay co-op in Europe.

In June 2023, Suma launched their ambitious sustainability strategy, setting the direction for the rest of the decade to 2030. In July 2024, they published their first Impact Report which provides an update on the progress of their strategy and covers the work done in 2023.

In the spirit of sharing and collaboration, Suma have kindly worked with Yorkshire and Humber Climate Commission to provide this case study to inspire other organisations who are on their sustainability journey and share some learnings that they have gathered along the way.

A man and a woman smile as they take part in a workshop together with a sign about equal pay for employees showing

You’ve achieved a lot in a relatively short space of time. What challenges have you encountered along the way?

“We realised very quickly that you can’t do everything, so we needed to prioritise what we wanted to focus on – hence our six key areas we identified as part of our 20230 sustainability strategy. As with all organisations, we also have to decide what to invest in and what not. Sometimes you have to make choices – and having our six key areas to guide our decision-making has really helped to frame those decisions.

Originally, we didn’t have all the data we needed to know how to tackle some areas. For example, we didn’t have a process to separate and measure our canteen food waste. Having now improved this process, this waste is now weighed and more efficiently disposed of through the method of anaerobic digestion to generate renewable biogas.

Gathering emissions data can also be challenging and, depending on the size and type of your organisation, can be daunting. We use a supplier questionnaire that helps us to gather data for our scope 3 emissions – and we’d recommend that all large organisations should be looking at this. If you’re an SME, focussing on Scope 1 and 2 (operational and energy emissions) is a great place to start, then looking into scope 3 (indirect and transport emissions) when you can.

There’s also so much uncertainty over terms and definitions and different reporting requirements. We’d recommend focussing on the few that really matter to you as an organisation and understand them deeply. Things are changing all the time, so keeping on top of everything can be difficult. By focussing on the key areas you want to work on, you can keep up to date with changes more easily. And when you need it, bring in expert help – it saves you time and money in the long-term.

You can’t be an expert on everything. For example, we comply with ESOS (Energy Saving Opportunity Scheme) whereby a qualified auditor comes to site and highlights recommendations to reduce our overall energy consumption. We always value expert opinion, and we constantly assess if we can implement the recommendations put forward to us in order to reduce our energy consumption.”

 

What benefits have you seen from the work you’ve done so far?

“So many! Not only is focussing on sustainability the right thing to do, it also links to things that people care about. We’ve had so much positive feedback on our Impact Report and sustainability initiatives. It has enhanced our reputation as an organisation where people and planet are at the heart of everything we do. We have always had sustainability and ethical values as part of who we are, ever since we were founded over 45 years ago, and being able to showcase the specific changes and successes we’ve had helps us to demonstrate how we uphold these values to this day.

By creating our strategy and Impact Report, we’re also one step ahead of regulatory requirements. So, rather than having to play catch up, which is stressful, we embed sustainability into our way of working so it doesn’t feel like an additional thing on the to-do list.

Doing the work has created conversations with other organisations where we’ve learned and shared, so we all benefit from each other. It’s a great collaborative environment to be in. It also has a positive impact on our people. As a worker co-operative, people are already incredibly important, and we all view ourselves as equal with each other. No-one is more important than anyone else. But focussing on embedding sustainability into our mission, vision, purpose and values has created even greater engagement and higher morale. Plus, people get additional benefits such as an EV salary scheme and volunteering opportunities. And of course, the changes we’ve made have reduced our carbon footprint and led to cost savings.

Ultimately, if we weren’t doing this, we’d risk falling behind other companies. And because we are so values-led, we’d be misaligned with our organisational purpose not to be doing this. So, although it’s been a lot of work, the benefits are many and varied.”

 

What learnings can you share with other organisations based on your experience?

“Firstly, it is important to identify your key material issues to your business, what areas are responsible for the majority of your emissions and what actions can you take to mitigate those. Then you can expand the focus to all other areas of the business. Having someone whose role it is to drive the sustainability agenda forwards is important. It can be their part-time or full-time role, and they don’t need to be an expert – just someone who has the passion to make a difference and get started is fundamental.

Getting buy-in from the Board is also key. By embedding sustainability into our vision, mission, purpose and values, it becomes a fundamental part of our current operation and future direction. We have a Board sustainability champion which helps keep it top of mind in decision making.

Equally, it’s important to work with other teams and departments to incorporate sustainability into their business plans. It needs a whole organisation to make changes, so engaging with different functions is important. The 2030 Sustainability Strategy and six key areas give everyone direction and we also have an ESG Risk Log where we regularly review the likelihood and impact of any sustainability-related risks. The scoring changes over time, of course, and we can use this to engage with different parts of the business to mitigate risks.

Sometimes something sounds simple to do, but, upon further investigation, it can be more involved than you thought. It’s important not to make assumptions and to manage expectations. Keeping focussed on the outcome and remaining passionate helps!

Don’t be afraid of getting help from other people. There’s loads of free advice out there; resources such as the SME Climate Hub, Business Declares, local networks and, of course, your own local council are invaluable. You can’t be an expert in everything, so when needed, bring in people who can help you be more effective. For example, we had our Scope 1 and 2 emissions verified externally so that we had a baseline we were confident in.”

 

How have you engaged people in Suma’s sustainability journey?

“People come to work at Suma because they know that, as a worker co-operative and an ethical wholesaler, we truly care about people and the planet. So, it’s no surprise that this has been front and centre for us, and received good buy-in. But you don’t have to be a co-operative to engage your people in doing what’s right for the planet, the future of your organisation and future generations. Even as a co-op, this work still requires change and for people to think a little differently sometimes. Having objectives within teams’ businesses plans helps, as it becomes part of their daily work rather than an additional thing to do.

And we’ve learned to create processes to help us achieve our aims efficiently. For example, when we were upgrading some machinery in our warehouse, we included sustainability in our thinking and, as a result, brought in modern, lithium-ion battery powered machinery as this was the most efficient option with a much longer life span. This will hence reduce our impact on the planet while also reducing costs in the long term. “We also educate everyone on climate change and sustainability through company-wide learning such as videos, newsletters and training.

We engage with our customers and suppliers too – sharing best practice and learnings so that we’re not all starting from scratch in our own bubble. As part of this, we used our Supplier Ethical Questionnaire to increase communication around sustainability and understand where our suppliers were at and where we could support them.”

A group of people crouch amongst long grass working together to plant trees

As you continue to implement your 2030 Strategy, what’s next for Suma?

“Building on the work started is a large part of it. For example, we are gathering from our Supplier Questionnaire what our suppliers need and looking at how we can support them. We’ll be implementing the recommendations from the Energy Saving Opportunities Scheme to become even more energy efficient and working to reduce our Scope 3 emissions as well as emissions from our own fleet of trucks. We’re working towards moving our packaging from plastic to paper and looking at newer product lines such as bamboo products. We’re looking to engage with local nature and conservation partners and Calderdale Council to improve biodiversity in and around our site. And of course, keeping up to date and preparing for new reporting standards! Lots to do, but we have achieved so much already, and when we all work together, it’s not just easier, it’s incredibly satisfying knowing we’re having a positive impact on our planet.”

Impact under the four principles of the Climate Action Pledge

We asked Suma to map their achievements against the pledge principles of effective climate action, and this is what they told us:

1. Strong leadership

  • Sustainability has been thoroughly embedded in our vision, mission, purpose and values.
  • We have launched our company-wide 2030 sustainability strategy endorsed by the board. The strategy focusses on six key areas – net zero, nature, zero waste, decent work, healthy and sustainable diets, and education and engagement – and looks at addressing some of our material impact areas (such as energy, buildings and fleet).
  • We have a Board sustainability champion who actively promotes sustainability throughout Suma starting from board level.
  • We’ve conducted our Scope 3 Emissions assessment, to get a full picture of our total emissions and begin our Net Zero journey.

 

2. Engaged workforce

  • We conduct worker surveys and consultations to listen to our people.
  • We help our people understand climate change and sustainability through external webinars, training videos and materials and offering the opportunity for them to attend events (for example, recently a team attended the Oxford Real Farming Conference to learn more about regenerative agriculture).
  • We keep people informed with regular newsletters and website blog posts, and we have an internal Suma glossary to help understand terms and definitions.
  • We encourage people to take volunteering opportunities to help them make a direct contribution.
  • We’ve published our first Impact Report to communicate what we’ve achieved so far, and where we’re heading.

 

3. Engaged stakeholders

  • We have updated our supplier onboarding process to understand more about what our suppliers need from us, and what practices they currently have.
  • We’ve also updated our buying policy to be clearer about what we want from our suppliers.
  • We work with other organisations and networks to share information and collaborate to find solutions.
  • We’re working with Calderdale Council on their climate action plan and we are looking at how we can work with local partners to measure and reduce our impact on nature and increase biodiversity in the local area.

 

4. Fairness and inclusion

  • We undertook a whole-organisation diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging assessment in partnership with The Unmistakables to understand our overall DEIB performance.
  • We have our own DEIB champion sitting on our Board.
  • We have a Suma Pride Network and other worker support networks.
  • We have mental health first aiders across the businesses and wellbeing team.
  • We’re a worker-owned co-operative, run by and for its workers. We don’t have any bosses or external shareholders.
  • We, Suma’s employees, set the direction of the business. Everyone has an equal say in what we do. We all get paid the same wage, take responsibility and each do a range of jobs each week.

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