Our journey to a sustainable future
“Sustainability is about addressing our impacts and working in collaboration to drive positive change across the food travel sector.”
Patrick Coveney, Group CEO
As a global business serving people on the move in 36 countries, we’re uniquely placed to help make the food travel sector more sustainable.
Approach and strategy
Leading with purpose to create sustainable value
Sustainability is a key strategic priority for SSP. Touching every aspect of our overall Group strategy, it is central to our purpose to be the best part of the journey and our strategic priorities to deliver leading customer proposition, develop skilled and engaged colleagues and generate long-term growth and returns.
We refreshed our sustainability strategy in 2021, backed by clear commitments and targets, and have now rolled it out across our operations worldwide.
Our strategic approach to sustainability
Our 2022 highlights
Serving our customers responsibly
33%
of meals offered by our own brands are plant-based or vegetarian
Protecting our environment
36%
reduction in Scope 1 and 2 carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) emissions (vs 2019 baseline)
Supporting our colleagues and communities
76%
positivity score in our global colleague engagement survey (+1% vs 2021)
67%
tea, coffee and hot chocolate for our own brands are certified to standards, such as Fairtrade or Rainforest Alliance
80%
of our own brand packaging is free of unnecessary single-use plastic and around 85% is recyclable, reusable or compostable
50%
female representation on our Board (+21% vs 2021) and 36% in senior leadership role (+5% vs 2021)
A year of great progress
2022 saw us embed our new Sustainability Strategy right across the business and make strong progress against our targets.
As part of our commitment to transparency, we have developed our very first Sustainability Report, which we published in January 2023. This provides detailed information on our 2022 progress and future plans, and is aligned to best practice reporting frameworks – the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Standard and Sustainable Accounting Standards Board (SASB) Restaurants Standard.
And we are just at the beginning of our sustainability journey. There are many challenges ahead but, by working in collaboration with our suppliers, clients and brand partners, we believe we can drive positive change across the food travel sector.
Read our 2022 Sustainability Report
We received an MSCI ESG Rating of A in 2023
In June 2023, SSP Group plc received an MSCI ESG Rating of A (on a scale of AAA-CCC) in the MSCI ESG Ratings assessment.
MSCI ESG Research provides MSCI ESG Ratings for investors on global companies, based on a scale of AAA (leader) to CCC (laggard), according to exposure to industry-specific ESG risks and the ability to manage those risks relative to peers. Further details can be found at: www.msci.com
This achievement demonstrates the strong progress we are making against our sustainability strategy and targets, and reflects the increase in transparent reporting, including the publication of our first stand-alone Sustainability Report in January 2023.
Download our reports
Read more about how our sustainability strategy is woven into our business.