Marketplace is open for applications and will provide a ‘one stop shop’ for hospitality and brewing operators to source the essential products and services they need to help radically reduce their carbon emissions. The new platform will feature a product and services directory to allow users to segment by the most relevant emissions area such as food, energy and packaging and accelerate the pace of reduction action. The directory will be published in Q4 2023 following a review of applications.

With a raft of pioneering businesses already signed up to the venture, the forum is on the lookout for more innovative suppliers of all sizes and growth stages to add to the Marketplace brand list and showcase their carbon reducing product or service.

Cutting edge brands already on board include BioFase (biodegradable products made from avocado stones), Britvic (pioneering soft drinks dispense innovation to reduce packaging),Gentle Farming (regenerative agriculture), Guardians of Grub (a food waste reduction initiative from WRAP), Keenan (decarbonisation of food waste collection services),Mitsubishi Electric (decarbonisation of buildings with efficient heat pumps and chillers), Quintex Systems (kitchen energy efficiency specialists) Wildfarmed (regenerative flour with an end-to-end, audited and traceable supply chain) and Yum Bug (protein from edible insects).

Mark Chapman, CEO at Zero Carbon Forum said: “Up to 90% of hospitality and brewing emissions are from the supply chain. And 35% of the UK’s Greenhouse Gas Emissions come from food and drink.

“We in hospitality are the biggest industry to be affected, therefore we must act. We can’t reach net zero without engaging suppliers and Marketplace has been conceived to provide operators with innovative sustainable services and solutions that help accelerate the transformational change we need to make.”

Brands and suppliers that feature in Marketplace are validated via an entry selection procedure to ensure products and services support net zero goals.

Mark continues: “We have less than three years to radically reduce emissions to maintain a habitable planet. Customers, employees and investors expect businesses to take climate action and they will buy from the companies that do. The brands and suppliers showcased in the Marketplace directory are doing game changing work to help the hospitality sector reach net zero.

“We want to champion this great work to facilitate real and seismic change. We look forward to working with more suppliers of all shapes and sizes as we grow Marketplace and make it the definitive resource for the hospitality and brewing industry”

About Zero Carbon Forum
The Zero Carbon Forum is a non-profit organisation which builds on 10 years of carbon reduction collaboration in the UK’s hospitality and Brewing sector. It enables members to reach their decarbonisation targets faster, more efficiently and more cost effectively than acting alone.

The Zero Carbon Forum published its publicly available roadmap to achieve net zero carbon ahead of the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 26) in November 2021.

Members pledge to work collaboratively, by sharing carbon reduction plans and initiatives. By combining expertise and resources the forum helps to identify all possible actions to decarbonise operations across tens of thousands of outlets and their supply chains.

The Zero Carbon Forum is endorsed by government and backed by trade associations UK Hospitality and the British Beer and Pub Association. Members include leading UK and global hospitality organisations, including Adnams, Azzurri Group, Boparan Restaurants, Brewdog, Burger King UK, Côte Restaurant Group, Fuller’s, Greene King, Honest Burgers, InterContinental Hotels (IHG) Hotels & Resorts, JD Wetherspoon, KFC, Marston’s PLC, McDonald’s UK and Ireland, McMullen’s Brewery, Mitchells & Butlers PLC (MAB), Nando’s UK and IRE, Pizza Express, Pizza Hut Restaurants UK, Revolution Bars, Shepherd-Neame Ltd, St. Austell, Stonegate, The Restaurant Group (including Wagamama), Wadworth Brewery, WSH, and Young & Co. Brewery, PLC.

About London Essence
In 1896, the founders of The London Essence Company began to develop exquisite essences for the city’s finest perfume houses. Informed by this innovative heritage, The London Essence today creates luxurious drinks with purest flavours derived from quality ingredients. An ensemble of botanicals is artfully selected by their team of flavour experts and gently distilled until their true essence is captured. The result is a premium mixer that doesn’t cloak the flavour of the spirit it accompanies but rather accentuates it.