Sustainability Reporting: From Supply Chain Compliance to Business Value
Sustainability reporting is becoming a practical compliance and business issue for the agricultural supply chain.
In this episode of The AIC Podcast, Vicky Robinson, AIC Head of Sustainability, and Andrew Pearson, AIC Policy Manager, join Wendy Ford, AIC Communications Manager, to discuss why sustainability reporting matters, the value it can bring to businesses and how agricultural supply businesses can prepare for evolving reporting requirements.
We cover:
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What sustainability reporting involves, including its economic, social and environmental dimensions.
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What is driving growing demand for sustainability information across supply chains.
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How collecting and analysing sustainability data can support better decision-making, reduce costs, improve operational efficiency and strengthen customer relationships.
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Why credible sustainability claims need to be transparent, clearly defined and supported by robust evidence.
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The importance of monitoring, reporting and verification, known as MRV, in helping businesses substantiate their claims.
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How accurate, business-specific data can recognise and reward investment in areas such as lower-energy manufacturing, ration reformulation and product carbon footprints.
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Where businesses can begin by identifying their most important impacts, establishing a baseline and focusing on a small number of priority areas.
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How businesses can manage increasing volumes of data using anything from an Excel spreadsheet to a bespoke reporting system.
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Why sustainability is not a one-size-fits-all exercise and should reflect each business’s operations, people, risks and priorities.
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How the AIC Sustainability Action Plan can help Members assess their progress and identify practical next steps.
As Vicky Robinson explains, sustainability reporting is “not a nice to do, it is a must do”, but it should be recognised as beneficial to the business rather than approached purely as a compliance exercise.
Andrew Pearson highlights that good sustainability reporting can help businesses make better decisions, manage risks more effectively and demonstrate their value within increasingly sustainability-focused supply chains.
This episode is ideal for AIC Members, agricultural supply businesses, sustainability professionals and anyone looking to understand how effective reporting can support business resilience, competitiveness and long-term planning.
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Transcript
Wendy Welcome to the AIC podcast, where we share practical guidance and insight for mM and help the industry understand how the agri food supply chain works. I'm Wendy Ford, I'm the AIC Communications Manager, and today I'm joined by Vicky Robinson, Head of Sustainability, and Andrew Pearson, Policy Manager, at AIC. In this episode today, we're going to be exploring why sustainability reporting matters, how it supports business performance, and how agri supply businesses can prepare for future reporting requirements.
Let's start with the basics. What is sustainability reporting and why should businesses care? Why is it becoming such an important issue?
Vicky Well if I kick off obviously there are a huge variety of different standards out there which have specific boundaries. But equally, you could put a wide variety of different areas in sustainability reporting, whether it's looking at the economic side of a business, the social, so things like the Modern Slavery Act, which some businesses are required to require to report on. And obviously then there's the environmental pillar as well, and I would say it's not becoming an important issue. It is already something that's important for businesses in the agri supply sector. And within the reporting sphere, a lot of the focus has been particularly on some of the carbon reporting, but you know, as we, as we articulated when we wrote our Sustainability Action Plan, and I will read directly from the action plan, the public and private sector bodies are increasingly making sustainability commitments, net zero being one of these. And it's the data reporting and the systems that support that, that are providing the evidence for business compliance and insurance. So we're seeing increasingly, it's not just becoming, an area for our Member businesses to look at it very much is, you know, is here and now, that businesses are being asked for their sustainability credentials by supply chain, downstream actors in the supply chain, but Government looking this as well. But equally, it's important to recognise that this will help with the business efficiencies as well. It will help support business decision making, to make businesses to drive efficiency and opportunities, and improving the competitiveness for our Member businesses.
Wendy Thanks, Vicky. That sets the scene nicely. what's driving the growing demand for this information from across the supply chain?
Vicky So I think there's differing demands. There are commitments that are being made. So obviously the UK has got, different commitments around net zero, whether you're in Scotland, whether you're in England, Wales, Northern Ireland, whether it's 2045 or 2050. You've got voluntary commitments that Member businesses are making, or they're within the supply chain of a business that has made that voluntary commitment again at the moment. A lot of that is focused around carbon, but we're hearing more and more around nature, and obviously water is becoming more of an issue. And we're very much obviously seeing that as the summer of 2026, that water availability, quality and quantity. So there's going to be more and more asks around what information, what business is doing. And ultimately, I think from a finance perspective, well, it's around resilience and business resilience and sustainability is absolutely core to the business. Business resilience, you know, looking ahead for from that perspective as well.
Wendy And with those expectations increasing, many businesses will just see sustainability reporting as a compliance exercise. What value can it actually bring to the businesses themselves? What can it deliver?
Andrew It may be the initial driver, but also provides other significant benefits to business. collecting and analysing sustainability data, gives that clearer understanding of the operations and the risks and the performance of the business. And that can be used to support better decision making, reduce costs, improve operational efficiency and strengthen relationships with customers. And then you can use that to help businesses to demonstrate their value to supply chains.
Wendy Of course, with greater focus on sustainability comes greater scrutiny of the claims businesses make.
Wendy One phrase that's used a lot is greenwashing. How can businesses ensure they're making credible sustainability claims?
Vicky Well I think there's more and more focus on the monitoring, reporting and verification or MRV as it's obviously known, And it's very interesting seeing some of the the innovative solutions, particular use of platforms that are coming into that space because yes, there is now the Advertising Standards Agency, have a whole, guidance on the use of greenwashing. The EU have got regulations around this space, so there's more and more scrutiny on ensuring that if claims are made that they are backed up by that evidence to support those claims and obviously with the work, and the operations that our Member businesses are undertaking, there's a real need to have that data all the way down the supply chain to support claims that might be being made, you know, several steps removed from actually the operations that our Member businesses might be doing. So supplying feed, for example, or fertiliser onto a farm that ends up as a food product on a retailer shelf. But actually that transparency and that ability to, report through that supply chain and ensure that any claims that are being made about that food product can come all the way upstream to that supplier is getting increasingly increasingly important. I think, particularly as a lot of commitments have been made and some of them are starting, you know, they're making commitments as early as 2032 for example, reduce their some of the environmental impact they've got on their products. That's now got to be backed up by that data. that is, communicated through the supply chain.
Wendy I can see you nodding, Andrew. What are your thoughts?
Andrew Transparency part is the critical bit, and that needs to be through a sort of a tight scope and you need to avoid vague statements that can't be substantiated.
Vicky I mean, another area that we're keen on is looking at how we can improve averages. So there are a lot of databases out there with average values for products, particularly food products. And we want to ensure that actually, if our Members are investing in, whether it's, reformulating, rations or whether it's decarbonising or processing and reducing the energy use in the manufacturing process that can be recognised and rewarded and incentivise what is often not inconsiderable sums to actually go through those processes. And it's how therefore that your Members can, if they've got product carbon footprints, they've got branded products with a product carbon footprint that that can actually be recognised and rewarded down the supply chain. So again, that's where that idea of having that good data and accurate data can help or it can improve averages as well. Because if we just use averages, there's no incentive. It doesn't reward those who have invested and equally, those who might be, behind the curve. It doesn't incentivise them to change. So that's something that we strongly advocate for as AIC.
Wendy I think this all sounds fantastic. But if we strip it all back for organisations that are just starting out or businesses that are feeling overwhelmed by reporting requirements, you know it, it can all feel quite daunting. Where would you recommend a business to start on their sustainability reporting journey?
Vicky I think for me, the first thing and it can be overwhelming, as you say, where do you start? I think the first thing actually is for a business to understand what matters to them as a business. And then to so say, for example, if they're doing something that's fairly energy intensive, well, then it's likely you want to start looking at where are your main energy uses, and then look at could anything be done to reduce that for example, if you're, you know, transiting a product through your business, then it might be actually looking at, you know, who, where, where's that coming from, those supplying the product, what are they doing in the sustainability place? It's a lot of it's about that baseline. So what is it that you do within your operations? Where is the environmental impact? Or it could be the social impact might be most important to you as a business. so it's like understanding what is it your business does and then understanding what is the say that Baseline. And then can you make improvements for their key areas in their. That actually you could you could improve, for example, to reduce the environmental impact of what you're under undertaking. But yeah, I feel very strongly that sustainability is unique to every business. There is an identikit. You can't just copy and paste it across every business. Every business is different operationally, but also every business has got different people involved and they will help shape what is important to that business.
Andrew Yeah. So I think you need to start with a small number of priority areas and then build processes gradually, that's usually more effective than trying to address everything all at once.
Wendy I really like that. As you both say, you know, it's not a one fits all kind of strategy. But even after getting started, collecting and managing the necessary data can present a range of challenges. Are there any kind of common challenges that you've seen businesses face? And do you have any advice for businesses that come across those kind of challenges?
Andrew So one of the biggest challenges is the ever increasing volume and complexity of the information that's being requested, and therefore the data that's needed to, answer those questions, and often the businesses are required to provide similar data to different companies or to different reform reporting frameworks. And everyone has their own slightly different reporting requirements. And all of this needs to be managed internally. having appropriate systems in place will help to manage the data and information that's being collected. That can be something as simple as an Excel spreadsheet or something. That's a bespoke system that's been configured for individual organisations and that will help to collect the data, analyse it, and then to be able to pass it upstream or downstream through the system.
Wendy And what are your thoughts, Vicky?
Vicky I think actually breaking it down to what matters to your business, I think is really important because there as with a lot of things a whole technical language that goes with this. So I mean, breaking it down again, we often come back to using carbon as an example. You've got your different scopes one, two and three. Well, actually mapping those for your business and starting with scope one, which is what is within the gift of your business. And then I think you're picking up on Andrew's point around starting small. Actually, what could you do as a business to which is within your direct influence? So it could be that looking, if you've got a fleet of vehicles, could you start looking at a strategy of pivoting from to electric vehicles from diesel or petrol, you know, just little things and then you're achieving something. And I think once you start achieving things and actually that helps with it builds that momentum. But totally agreeing with Andrew.
Wendy We can't talk about sustainability without mentioning the AIC Sustainability Action Plan that you developed together in 2024, two years on, how relevant is the plan today and what should Members take from it?
Vicky It was interesting having sort of picked it up and flicking through it today. The messages in it are as relevant today as they were when we launched it, including the actions for Member businesses. None of that has it's not gone away. If anything, it's got more and more stronger the noise around, particularly looking at the economic chapter that we did around sort of the data reporting and systems, which you've obviously been talking about a lot on this podcast. So I think it's that, you know, having a look through it and the messages that we gave out when we launched it about Members actually sense checking where their business is against the actions, and we deliberately structured the actions around where to start next step and further steps to give businesses that trajectory to go on, and that they might want to, if they're, you know, ticking something in the where to start? Well, then actually does the next step action. Would that be something they could consider moving on to. So I think, yeah, the structure that we put in around those actions and the content is still as relevant today as it was. And just, you know, some of the topics, whether it is that data reporting, we talk about circularity, nutrient management in there, the role of advice, those are some of the key messages that we wanted. to pull out. Those are messages that we are still advocating and talking about today. So I would say it's that refresher. Have a have a look back at it. It was deliberately written to be able to be digested in chapter chunks so that it was the format. You didn't have to start at the beginning and read to the end. So again, you dip in and dip out of it, and choose the chapters that are most relevant to your business and look at those actions.
Wendy Before we wrap up, what's the key message you'd like AIC Members to take away from today's discussion?
Vicky I was thinking what you were saying about starting simple, like one that, you know, starting with something small. I think that's a really important one.
Andrew I noted down here that good sustainability reporting helps businesses make better decisions, manage risks more effectively, and demonstrate their value with increasing sustainability focused supply chains.
Vicky And I think from building on Andrew's point there, I think it's recognising the value that sustainability has within business and the importance of it to that long term resilience of a business. it's not a nice to do it, is it? It is a must do, but it's seen as beneficial to the business rather than something that has to be done for a compliance reason. It should be front and central to any business strategy.
Wendy Andrew. Vicky, thank you so much for sharing your insights today. The key takeaway is that sustainability reporting shouldn't be seen as a burden or simply a compliance exercise. Done well, it can help businesses become more resilient, competitive and better prepared for the future. If you'd like to explore this topic further, including the AIC Sustainability Action Plan and other resources, please visit the AIC website. And I've also linked the Sustainability Action plan in this episode's description. Thanks for listening and goodbye for now. Please make sure you hit follow to get all the episodes we release. Thank you.
Wendy Views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect any organisation they represent. This content is for informational purposes only and should not be considered professional advice. Listener discretion is advised. Thank you.
Author
Wendy Ford
Wendy Ford is Communications Manager at AIC, creating and overseeing the content published on AIC's website, emails, Member briefings, print publications, and social media.
