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CEO of Compass Group UK & Ireland’s Business & Industry (B&I) sector, Morag Freathy, has been named Business Leader of the Year at the edie Awards.
Now in its 18th year, the awards celebrate sustainability leadership across all industries and are organised by edie, the UK’s largest and longest-running sustainable business media brand. Trophies were presented in a ceremony staged at the Intercontinental London O2 hotel.
Under Freathy’s leadership, Compass Group UK & Ireland B&I, which includes contract caterers Eurest and Dine together with integrated FM provider 14forty, has driven a plant-based and plant-forward approach that has delivered health, wellbeing and sustainability benefits for its clients.
This included a reformulation project to reduce the embodied carbon across its 12 top selling meals, which resulted in an average saving per portion of 1.39kg CO2 e across 209,029 meals sold every year.
Freathy’s strategic leadership has also supported a 47 per cent reduction in food waste across the B&I business in four years. These actions have contributed to Compass’ reduction of Scope 3 emissions by 8.5 per cent.
A spokesperson for the edie Awards said: “Morag Freathy won edie’s sustainability Business Leader of the Year Award for her exceptional leadership in transforming the sustainability agenda in contract catering. Her bold strategies to cut food waste, reduce emissions and champion plant-based eating have set a benchmark for the industry.
“The judges were particularly impressed by the quantitative impact achieved, the innovation shown in nudging people towards plant-based diets and the clear and comprehensive strategic approach to creating a positive impact.”
Freathy said of the award: “It was a special night and a real honour to be recognised by such a prestigious body that leads the way in driving sustainability in business.
“We are passionate about sustainability at Compass B&I, and so are our clients, so this is an award that means a lot not only to me but to all my team and to our client partners too.”
