We've introduced Klimato carbon labelling in the UK and UAE to better understand how our customers respond.

In the UAE, 60% of sales over a three-month trial for our Camden Food Co and Ritazza brands were of low-carbon-rated dishes. Additionally, 65% of customers surveyed during the trial expressed a high likelihood of choosing carbon-labelled dishes in the future.

In the UK, we refined our Soul + Grain range using Klimato insights, achieving a c.15% reduction in the carbon footprint of food sold while maintaining profitability. We also introduced Klimato labels to five Soul + Grain units, supported by in-store communications materials, to help customers make informed choices.

Beyond carbon labelling, we are exploring other methods to encourage climate-smart choices, such as menu design and descriptors. In another small-scale UK trial, changing the ‘featured’ dishes on the menu at our casual dining bars led to c.30% shift in sales volume from high-carbon to low- and medium-carbon options.

Our clients are increasingly applying green building standards at their sites, with many certified to industry-leading schemes such as BREEAM or LEED. We work closely with our clients to advance our shared sustainability goals.

For example, in November 2023, Zayed International Airport in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) opened its new state-of-the-art Terminal A. The project has placed sustainability at the forefront during the design, construction and workings of the terminal and has been awarded a 3-Pearl design rating from the Estidama green building rating system.

Throughout the planning and construction process, we aligned our units in the terminal with these sustainable build standards. For example, 90% of wood is from recycled or reclaimed sources, 85% of all floor and wall tiling used are locally sourced with a minimum of 20% recycled content and we installed water-based air-conditioning and recycling extractor steam systems, along with other energy-efficient equipment.

In 2024, we trialled our new Sustainable Build Standards across five markets to better measure and assess the circularity and sustainability of our projects. Helping to address both Scope 2 operational and Scope 3 capital goods emissions, the standards cover a range of criteria, including materials sourcing, resource efficiency and waste management. They are supported by a practical tool for assessing sustainability at the design stage and identifying opportunities for improvement.

In 2025, we plan to further align these standards with relevant brand partner standards and integrate them into our governance process as a consideration in reviewing and approving build projects.

“Our property teams are fully committed to working alongside our clients to meet their green build standards while incorporating circular design principles across our estate. By embedding our own Sustainable Build Standards into our design blueprints, we want to ensure sustainability is a consideration from the outset of each project.” Jo Pennycuick, Group Head of Store Design and Formats

We’re proud that we have achieved  Certified Green Restaurant® sustainability certification from Green Restaurant Association (GRA) for 172 restaurants across 12 airports, including Dallas Fort Worth, JFK, LaGuardia and Seattle-Tacoma. This accomplishment follows a year-long collaboration with GRA, a non-profit organisation pioneering the Green Restaurant® movement.

In our certified restaurants, our teams have implemented 4,332 environmental steps, earning 20,395.64 GreenPoints™ across seven categories, such as energy, water, waste and food. These efforts, including daily waste reduction, water conservation and energy efficiency, have significantly reduced our environmental impact while delivering operational cost savings.

“I applaud SSP America for their leadership to have their locations become Certified Green Restaurants®. The environmental practices of SSP America and their 172 locations are a significant step forward for the restaurant industry and environmental change. They set an example for other locations to follow in their footsteps and show that it’s possible for any location to change their environmental footprint. SSP America demonstrates that our world can make big sustainability changes now.” Michael Oshman, CEO and founder of the Green Restaurant Association.

“At SSP America we are passionate about sustainability, environmental protection, and social responsibility. This passion is embedded into our strategic priorities as we do our part to build a sustainable future. I want to commend our airport teams for their dedication to this program—without them this milestone would not be possible. And, of course, we thank Michael Oshman and his team for their partnership and support.” Amanda Busby, SSP America Division President, Operations

Having nearly achieved the 2025 sustainable packaging targets, we continue to test new innovations to challenge the definition of
‘necessary’ single-use plastics. We take a collaborative test-and-learn approach to help lay the foundations for transformation at scale.

For instance, after successful trials of plastic-free hot beverage lids in Sweden, the UAE and UK in 2023, they were implemented across all our own brands in these markets in 2024, saving around 4.5 million hard polystyrene plastic lids. In the UK, it is estimated that this change eliminates more than 8.5 million plastic lids each year. Further European markets are now undergoing similar trials.

We also continue to use our culinary expertise to reformulate recipes for salad dressings and sauces, to remove the need for separate containers or inserts in the first place. We are also exploring the introduction of additional self-service filling stations.

There is increasing focus on promoting a circular economy for packaging, including new regulations proposed by the EU for plastic packaging to have a minimum of 30% recycled content by 2030.

We are increasing our use of recycled plastics, such as recycled PET (rPET), a recycled version of a plastic commonly used in food packaging. By the end of 2024, 19% of our own brand packaging globally contained recycled plastics.

We offer reusable cups for customers in our own brand coffee shops and, in some cases, incentivise customers with discounts for using them. This is also the case for many of our franchise brands, including Starbucks.

In some European markets, reusable packaging regulations have been introduced. To respond to these, we have successfully adapted our operational set-up, where needed, such as installing additional dishwashers.

In Germany and Sweden, we have deposit-return schemes for reusable packaging across nearly 290 air and rail units. While in the Netherlands, we conducted a three-month pilot in 2024 of returnable cups at our Starbucks units in collaboration with our client NS Stations. We are now reviewing the results and considering a further rollout, where possible.

Our top priority is preventing food waste from occurring in the first place. This principle is embedded across our operations, including smart ordering, efficient inventory management, thoughtful recipe design, optimised production practices and portion control. 

In the USA, for example, our WasteTrax programme, powered by inventory management system Crunchtime, enables us to minimise ingredient and product waste while centrally capturing waste data. Now available in all sites and central kitchens, WasteTrax will help dramatically decrease food waste over time through analytics, colleague training, and setting and adhering to standards and menu design.

Our ongoing rollout of SAP inventory management systems, now deployed in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden, is helping to reduce food waste through more efficient inventory management through real-time data and detailed inventory analytics.

We are also trialling an AI production planning system, foodforecast, in partnership with brand partner Kamps, to reduce waste in Germany. The system leverages past and current sales data with external factors to predict sales on a daily or intra-daily basis, helping us avoid both shortages and excess food.

In the UK, we formally signed up to the UK Food Waste Reduction Roadmap7 with WRAP (Waste & Resources Action Programme) in 2024, demonstrating our commitment to contributing to UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 12.3 to halve food waste by 2030. As part of this, we have put in place stronger food waste measurement systems and increased transparency. 

Read more in our 2024 Sustainability Report on pages 38-39

We focus on redistributing edible surplus food via food saving apps, discounts to airport or rail staff working at the site, and donations to charities and local communities.

Across 12 markets in Europe and UK&I, we work in partnership with the social impact company behind the world’s largest marketplace app for surplus food, Too Good To Go. The app connects customers to restaurants and stores that have unsold food surplus at the end of the day. The food is bundled into ‘Surprise Bags’ that customers buy through the app at a reduced price.

Our partnership with Too Good To Go started in the Nordics in 2016, and has scaled up to cover 825 of our own brand and franchise units by the end of 2024.

In total, we have saved over two million Surprise Bags from going to waste, including nearly 850,000 in 2024. This equates to approximately 2,000 tonnes of food saved from waste, or the equivalent of c.5,500 tonnes of CO2e avoided.

Where we have surplus waste, redistribution at airports is challenging due to strict security procedures.

In the UK, we launched a successful surplus food redistribution pilot with Olio and our client Network Rail at select own and franchise brand units in Waterloo station. We plan to expand this programme in 2025 to over 90 additional units across the UK. 

In Hong Kong, our client has partnered with Food Angel to collect surplus food from participating units and redistribute it to those in need. 

Surplus food donations

In 10 of our markets, we partner with food poverty charities that collect surplus food from our units at the end of the day and redistribute to local communities in need. Examples include Caritas in Austria, Foodsharing in Germany, Food Angel in Hong Kong, the Red Cross in Spain, the Food Network in Switzerland and Olio in the UK.

In 2024, over 5 tonnes of food waste was recorded as redistributed through these schemes.

Used cooking oil, when disposed of irresponsibly, blocks drains and sewers and can contaminate local water supplies. Recycling cooking oil not only prevents it ending up as waste, but also contributes to a circular economy by giving it a new life as biofuel.

By the end of 2024, 98% of our own brand units and 97% of our franchise units with fryers were sending waste cooking oil for recycling into biofuels. In total, more than 560,000 litres of oil was recorded as recycled in 2024.

Those units not yet recycling oil are in places where there are no schemes or facilities available. In these cases, we are actively engaging with our clients to encourage their introduction.

In India, for example, 100% of our waste cooking oil in the country is recycled through the national RUCO – Repurpose Used Cooking Oil – programme and converted into biofuel. In just three months, this totalled more than 7,800 litres of waste cooking oil, helping to maintain food safety, and reduce food waste and emissions from fossil fuels.