Our ESG strategy focuses our efforts on the issues that we, as a business, have the most ability to impact both within our own operations and our supply chain. It is informed by a materiality assessment that captures views of key stakeholders
The products we sell are intrinsically dependent on climate and therefore climate change poses a significant risk to the future of our business; we believe decarbonising our operations and product offerings is the most effective part we can play in mitigating the climate crisis. Whilst the challenges are not unique to MM Flowers, there is a lot we can do to first understand, and then reduce, our footprint.
In 2022 we worked with external sustainability consultants to conduct a carbon Life Cycle Assessment of our biggest volume crop, a Kenya intermediate rose, followed by a full corporate carbon footprint. This work provided insight into our hotspots and provides the roadmap of where we need to focus. We have science-based targets and seek to be Net Zero across scopes 1, 2 and 3 by 2040, but know that we can’t do it alone and that it requires collaboration to achieve our goals.
Circularity and material usage efficiency make sense, both financially and environmentally. Maximising the value of a material, extracting the most value from it before passing it on to a second or third usage, is vital to ensure we have the lightest footprint possible. Packaging plays a central role in our ESG strategy; we have an in-house steering group to drive packaging innovation and absolute reductions.
Our zero waste to landfill policy ensures that our operations in the UK and the Netherlands send 100% of their waste for composting, recycling or energy recovery. Our key growers have a variety of waste solutions including on-site plastic recycling and anaerobic digestors powered by flower waste.
Regardless of location, water is a resource all our growers depend on. We are utilising the WWF Risk Portal to understand where the water hot spots are and are building baseline data of regions most susceptible to negative impacts from water scarcity, quality, and flooding.
This will allow us to develop an engagement programme to delve deeper into our supply chain and understand the broader mitigations these experts in their areas have already in place, and facilitate learning to support their continued development.
Flowers are purchased for their beauty and therefore must be free from symptoms of pest attack and disease. Our crop protection strategy is underpinned by transparency, sharing information relating to all aspects of plant health and working with growers who employ integrated pest management and appropriate precautions when applying crop protection products.
We employ a risk-based approach, removing or reducing chemicals identified as posing the highest risk from an environmental and human health perspective. Samples are taken regularly and anonymously from flowers delivered to our facilities and sent to a laboratory for robust, independent residue testing. For many years, our shareholder farms have invested significantly in alternative, non-chemical-based, integrated crop protection methods and we are working with our wider grower base to assess and mitigate biodiversity risks throughout our supply chain.
With 35,000 people working on shareholder flower farms across our vertically integrated supply chain, we recognise our responsibility to provide decent work and ensure good working conditions.
Through our collaboration with the FSI and other membership bodies we are committed to better understanding how we can work together to identify and continuously improve the lives of people who work across our supply chains.
Women play an integral part in our farming operations, and gender is our priority within the DEI agenda in our supply chain.
We are mapping the makeup of the workforce at different management levels across our shareholder farms to identify areas for improvement. All our shareholder farms have gender sensitive processes, policies and committees in place, striving towards parity and women’s empowerment. Pregnant women and lactating mothers also receive additional support, beyond maternity leave.
Modern slavery is a risk in most businesses and especially in global supply chains.
Our risk assessment process enables us to regularly assess and respond to risks within our own operations and supply chains. Read more about our approach to in our full Modern Slavery Statement found at the bottom of this page.
We strive to have a positive impact in the communities that we operate and source from, partnering with customers, suppliers and NGOs. In the UK we partner with local charities through providing product and financial donations, as well as skills based volunteering.
Across our vertically integrated supply chain in East Africa and South America community projects focus on education, health and nutrition, economic empowerment and gender. These projects provide benefits to employees as well as to the wider communities. All our shareholder farms have their own projects, tailored to their individual communities. Please keep an eye on our ‘news’ page to read more about of grower’s initiatives
A market-driven initiative that brings together members of the international floriculture sector. MM joined as a member in FY23 alongside our shareholders, Vegpro and Elite, together representing a significant part of the supply chain.
A membership organisation using the collective leverage of suppliers and retailers to bring about positive change in working conditions in global food, beverage, and horticulture supply chains. MM is a long-standing member of FNET and part of the empowering work working group.
MM is a signatory of the proactive work IDH is leading on to close the living wage gap in horticulture supply chains.
In FY23 MM joined the MSIN a pioneering non-profit collaboration in the UK food and agriculture sector created in response to the findings of Operation Fort, the UK’s largest ever modern slavery investigation.
MM is a member of the Suppliers Ethical Data Exchange (SEDEX) to continuously improve ESG outcomes in our global supply chain.
MM works in partnership with Fairtrade on many of our key stakeholder farms to provide Fairtrade products to the consumer and benefits to the communities that provide them.
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