Supply chain decarbonisation platform Mondra has named ex-Tesco sustainable food lead, Emily Rout, as its first head of strategic accounts & industry collaboration.
The newly created role will involve Rout – whose previous title at Tesco was sustainable food and innovation lead – focus on uniting food industry partners and driving collaboration across all stakeholders within the British Retail Consortium (BRC) Mondra Coalition, a group aimed at helping the sector move towards net zero carbon emissions.
Rout spent over six years at Tesco, and spearheaded projects including the development of UK Fava bean production and the eco labelling and sustainable scoring platform. During her time at Tesco, she also held positions including product partners manager and supplier communications & events manager.
Prior to entering the retail industry, Rout worked for the farming cooperative, Anglia Farmers, leading retailer-producer relationships, as well as supply chain and farm inputs, providing transparency to retailers and helping to manage cost of production from farm level up as part of a wider food sustainability role.
In a Mondra statement announcing her new role, the company said Rout’s experience in commercial retail as well as at farm level means she understands the challenges and needs of businesses throughout the food supply chain.
The BRC Mondra Coalition includes retailers Tesco, M&S, Co-op, Ocado Retail, Asda, Lidl and Sainsbury’s, as well as major brands including Starbucks and Nando’s. On the supplier side, companies such as Avara, Samworth Brothers, Greencore, Pilgrims UK, Dunbia, Cranswick and Bakkavor are involved.
Mondra said Rout will be involved in the coalition’s ‘Farm Data Done Better’ programme, which is focused on the best routes to incorporate farm-stage carbon data for product footprints. She will support in engaging the wider UK agricultural sector and develop recommendations for consistent treatment of farm data across supply chains.
Rout said: “Having grown up on a farm, I understand the important role the farmer plays in the supply chain, so it’s always been important for me to champion them in commercial food supply chains to ensure customers understand where their food comes from.
“As the food industry transitions to net zero, it’s important that all voices are heard and that solutions and tools are created that act on behalf of everyone within that chain – from farm level up – and working with Mondra and the coalition will enable me to facilitate that.”
Jason Barrett, founder of Mondra, said having Rout on board “will mean that we can really start to engage everyone in that single-minded vision and build better, futureproof systems for everyone when it comes to measuring, reporting and managing Scope 3 emissions”.
[Image credit: Green Retail World]
