Peach 20/20 director joins Zero Carbon Forum Advisory Board

Peach 20/20 director Peter Martin has joined the Zero Carbon Forum Advisory Board to support its mission of decarbonising the hospitality and brewing sector at pace.

A hospitality industry “influencer” and “visionary” with over 40 years of experience, Martin founded Peach 20/20 as a network to connect and inspire hospitality’s “brightest” minds.

Its members include senior executives from across the eating and drinking-out market and the annual Peach 20/20 conference, now in its 25th year, provides members with access to expert speakers and board-level insights from hospitality leaders globally.

A long-term advocate of sustainability within the sector, Martin will bring his skills and influence to “further amplify the work of Zero Carbon Forum and encourage more operators to join the forum and commit to a zero carbon future”.

Zero Carbon Forum enables its members to take action individually and collectively across all emission areas on food and drink, energy, water, waste and more.

Having already announced member savings of over £1.43m in lost profits as a result of its Save While You Sleep campaign, members are well on their way to reaching the targets set by the forum of eliminating operational emissions by 2030 and achieving net zero emissions across the supply chain by 2040.

Martin said: “One of the many things I’m most excited about at the forum is being able to bring people together in a variety of ways to exchange views and ideas. I’m looking forward to encouraging other parts of the food and drink market, such as the farming community on food security and sustainable production and supply.

“By working with the forum, the sector can develop and improve its communications and narrative around sustainability, both within the industry and to the wider public. That’s not easy though, as we are all only partly down the road to sustainability – and the picture is far from complete. The sector does have a good story to tell though – and that can inspire others to get involved.”

He added: “Hospitality is ideally positioned to take a wider business lead on carbon issues because of its day-to-day contact with the public and its generally younger, more environmentally committed workforce. That’s exciting.

“But many companies are finding it difficult to know where to start and are understandably cautious about talking about their achievements to date. Customers and in particular, front-line teams want and expect hospitality to be engaged in sustainability initiatives – with packaging, waste, recycling and local sourcing to the fore. But consumers especially want to hear about what operators are actually doing – which brings us back to the need for improved communication.”

Mark Chapman, founder and CEO at Zero Carbon, added: “We are absolutely thrilled to have Peter on the Forum Advisory Board to further support our journey. His unrivalled industry knowledge and broad network means that he is perfectly placed to help guide our strategic aims moving forward. He will be an excellent forum representative and voice of the sector’s challenges and opportunities in moving to net zero emissions.”