We are on a mission to help shoppers choose the sustainable food they want
With the goal to cut 20 million tonnes of CO₂ from UK groceries
That’s equivalent to planting roughly a billion trees!
80% of UK shoppers wish to shop more sustainably (1)
The Challenge
If shoppers demand more sustainable food, why isn’t more being supplied by farmers and producers?
Over the past decade of working with retailers, food producers, farmers and other groups in the food chain, we see two major themes that reinforce the status quo:
- Shopping sustainably can be complex, inconvenient and expensive
- Navigating the meaning of the various food certifications can be confusing and time consuming. These certifications play a critical role in identifying the more sustainable products, and there are quite a few to get your head around given the different supply chains.
- Consumers have rewarded retailers who make shopping more convenient (think Amazon). Spending time reading through all the detail behind the labels is anything but convenient, and many products have no certifications at all.
- More sustainable options are often perceived to be more expensive. This may be true for some products, but there are many examples where the more sustainable option is actually cheaper. For example, in UK supermarkets wild prawns are usually less expensive than farmed prawns AND wild prawns are more sustainable due to the amount of water pollution (known as eutrophication) caused by industrial prawn farming.
- We tend to prioritise the short term over the long term
For individuals working in large organisations, careers are made (or broken) by the results they drive in their role. This can lead to greater focus on the short term at the expense of long term solutions that can be more beneficial to the planet. When it comes to small farmers who own their own land, the same is often true. For example, in a recent visit, a Peruvian smallholder farmer told us that although he knew legumes (like beans) offer greater soil health and fertility benefits, he chose to grow corn in his rotation, because corn would deliver more than twice the income.
Our Vision
By helping shoppers easily identify more sustainable options and the difference they could make, we make shopping sustainably an easy and rewarding experience.
Through identifying sustainable swaps, we can be empowered and enabled to make our food choices consistent with our values. In turn, food producers and farmers will be rewarded for producing more sustainably, catalysing the necessary changes in government policy to speed up our arrival of a more sustainable future.
If we are to succeed in shifting our food and agriculture system to one that is largely sustainable, governments, food producers, retailers, farmers, researchers, non-profit and community groups all need to be part of the solution.
We are working with actors across the food system in order to provide robust guidance in a pragmatic way. We believe there’s an opportunity to better align incentives to change the system for the better.
What We Value
Simplicity
We make the complex simple by focussing on what matters
Transparency
We work openly and collaboratively to enable a better tomorrow
Empowerment
We empower people to make the change they want
Care
We care deeply for our planet and everyone we share it with
Courage
We aren’t afraid to make progress before we have the perfect solution
Our Approach
We determine our guidance through our Sustainability Measurement System
Objectives:
- Include relevant, available Environmental, Social, and Governance data
- Indicate variation in sustainability between products
- Is transparent, to build trust and identify areas to improve
- Strike the right balance between pragmatism and accuracy
- Continually evolve over time to incorporate latest research
The Process follows 3 core stages:
Quantify Impact of Ingredients and Production Methods
Leveraging leading research such as data from Joseph Poore and Thomas Nemecek
Accounting for:
- Greenhouse Gas Emissions
- Land use
- Water use and pollution
- Health
- Packaging
- Producer policies & actions
- Production methods
- Feedback from sustainability community
Combine impacts to produce a single sustainable impact score to compare products within a grocery store
Provide a more sustainable swap which is acceptable to the shopper
33% lower impact
70% lower impact
46% lower impact
Who we work with
Food retailers
to help shoppers shop more sustainably
Food producers
to improve sales of sustainably produced food and drinks
Food researchers, sustainability policy groups, and third party certifications
to support efforts to increase the demand and supply of sustainable food
Everybody who buys groceries
and wants to shop more sustainably, with an app coming soon
Our Team
Our Advisory Team
Peter Wortsman
Co-Founder & CEO
Peter has worked globally with Fortune 500 companies, startups, nonprofits and academic institutions to align stakeholders around the achievement of common goals. Over the last fifteen years, he has enjoyed working across the food and agriculture value chain, including 8 years at Tesco and most recently with Cervest, an Agriculture Technology start up. Having seen the importance of creating a more sustainable food system, Peter came up with the idea around Greener Beans.
Josh Afia Ford
Co-Founder & COO
Josh is responsible for developing the propositions that guide more sustainable behaviour for each of you. Josh has over 11 years experience in the food sector, including work with dunnhumby to help retailers and food producers better understand their shoppers. Passionate about enabling sustainable change, Josh completed studies at CISL before joining Peter to co-found Greener Beans in March 2020.
Matt McKenzie
Interim Chief Technology Officer
Matt is an experienced tech developer, having worked as CTO and lead engineer for a number of businesses. As acting CTO of Greener Beans and instrumental to our tech build, Matt is keen to see a greener world.
Laura Beresford
Marketing Manager
Laura’s background is in digital marketing and community engagement across B2C, B2B and non-profit audiences. Driven by social impact she volunteers her marketing expertise at Greener Beans, a concept she strongly believes in.
Rosemary Green
Science Advisor
Rosie Green is an Associate Professor in Sustainability, Nutrition and Health at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. She has worked in the field of healthy and sustainable diets for nine years, modelling dietary changes that would help people meet nutritional recommendations as well as reducing the environmental footprints of food systems. She was also scientific advisor to the UK Citizens Assembly on Climate Change.
Karan Sood
Software Developer
Karan is interested in demonstrating his ethical values through tech, both hardware and software, by working on projects that align with these. He was keen to work with Greener Beans as an exciting challenge to what he thought to be a big part of the solution in increasing environmentally sustainable consumption. Outside of tech, he has an interest in outdoor activities and growing food.
Justin Speake
Business & Technology Advisor
Justin has over 25 years experience in managing people, finances and change within Sales, Service and Operations. He has worked at general manager, and VP level for major organizations including Computer Associates, RR Donnelly, Debug Holdings plc and Centura Software Limited. He has spent the past 10 years fixing existing and building new businesses in Europe and the US.