LEADERSHIP
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When it comes to sustainability , AB Sugar is quite clear as to its objectives . “ Our commitments are ambitious ,” says CEO Dr Mark Carr , “ but represent the next step of our journey towards becoming the world ’ s leading sustainable sugar business .”
Managing sustainability across such a large corporation , including its significant business in China , can be as tricky as it is rewarding . Spread across 10 territories and with a 30,000 + strong workforce producing 4.5mn tonnes of sugar annually , AB Sugar – part of the Associated British Foods PLC – is a massively challenging operation when it comes to implementing genuinely sustainable change . AB Sugar China itself operates two sugar beet plants in the country , with an output of 180,000 tonnes of sugar each year . With a company as large as AB Sugar , small changes have dramatic effects across its end-to-end supply chain and the associated communities .
Katharine Teague , Head of Advocacy at AB Sugar , is instrumental in realising the company ’ s ambitions in this space . “ From an AB Sugar perspective , sustainability is how we ’ ve always run our businesses ,” Teague explains . “ We ’ re always looking to do more with less . We don ’ t actually talk about sustainability as an overall word . Instead , we look at it through the framework that we ’ ve established around ‘ Global Minds , Local Champions ’. We have broken sustainability into three pillars ,” she explains .
APRIL 2019