Together with regulatory specialists TSG Consulting and Leatherhead Food Research, the R&D consultancy is committed to helping businesses navigate opportunities and challenges presented by the sustainability agenda. The new service lines leverage wide-ranging experience and expertise to help customers from different industry sectors make material progress towards sustainability goals.

All three companies are part of Science Group plc, and this development follows the creation of Science Group Sustainability, the Group’s dedicated sustainability entity. Management and strategy, product innovation, and product stewardship have been identified as three distinct but interconnected areas where businesses can benefit from external support and guidance.

Michael Zeitlyn, President Advisory Services at Science Group Sustainability, says integrating the companies’ scientific, technical, and regulatory capabilities in these service lines enables customers to achieve more, faster.

“From net zero targets to plastic reduction, the scope, scale and complexity of sustainable business practice is immense,” Zeitlyn explains. “There are no simple, win-win solutions. Any new idea or approach involves trade-offs which need to be analysed and accounted for. Alongside this, the regulatory landscape is evolving with much variation between – and even within – regions. Rapid progress must be made on sustainability and with our help, businesses can get to the heart of what matters to drive better outcomes.”

Science Group Sustainability recently launched a Net Zero Playbook, the result of a year-long collaboration between innovation leaders from seven global brands and the three sister companies. Sagentia Innovation’s VP Sustainability, Dr Caroline Potter, played an instrumental role in this initiative. She says many companies understand that they need to develop holistic approaches.

“Acting on sustainability brings opportunities as well as challenges, and business leaders who are open-minded, pragmatic, and committed will lead the field,” Potter explains. “It’s about developing solutions that combine ingenuity with a deep understanding of the bigger picture, then sharing new learnings. In this way companies across all sectors can benefit from a continuous cycle of sustainability improvement.”

The creation of the Net Zero Playbook involved innovation leaders from companies representing the food and beverage, personal care, chemicals, agricultural and packaging industries: Procter & Gamble, PepsiCo, Mars, Stepan Company, Solvay SA, Amcor and Bayer’s crop science division. The abridged Net Zero Playbook is available to download at https://ctoforum.sciencegroup.com/net-zero-playbook/