Why sustainability is about empowerment and finding meaning

Empowering people to learn more about sustainability has helped to lead the wine sector to achieving more and meeting its eco-goals. db uncovers how ‘people power’ has contributed to greater progression and a more conscientious mindset that will serve the industry in the future.

Talking about sustainability has, for a long time, been a double-edged sword. After all, virtuous acts should always lend themselves to being admired and upheld. But how do you keep the topic enticing, inspiring and relevant? Not everyone wants to hear things being “preached”. Indeed, clear-speaking, open dialogue is necessary. As is a hefty dose of inclusivity. After all, people are on board with an idea if they feel involved.

Sincerity

Speaking to the drinks business, Champagne Canard-Duchêne managing director Jerome Durand said: “When the environmental approach is sincere, consistent, coherent and convincing, its perception — from the earth to the glass — across the entire chain that make up the upstream and downstream, the internal and external, from production to commercialisation, takes on its full meaning.”

As Durand attested, it’s all about that sincerity and clarity. People want to know things that matter. Perhaps, also, they want to feel they had a hand in making them more relevant too.

Lanchester Group CEO Tony Cleary MBE echoed this sentiment and said that this is because the business goes out of its way to “empower our teams to lead real change”.

Offering up an example, Cleary said: ”Take Greencroft Bottling’s warehouse team: last year, they drove our recycling rate to 92%, with even higher targets for 2025. They also maximised rebates for recyclables and shared best practices across the Lanchester Group.”

‘Tangible results’

For Cleary, the reasons behind these moves were clear: people felt empowered to act and make a difference in any way they could. Why? They wanted to make the world a better place.

He explained: “When colleagues see that sustainability delivers tangible results – cost savings, operational improvements, and a stronger business – they get on board. That’s how you make people care: by making sustainability make sense.”

Over at Vranken Pommery, the company’s group CFO and sustainability lead Franck Delval revealed that the team set out to “encourage people to take a genuine interest in sustainability by leading by example, being transparent and remaining consistent are essential to engaging all audiences on sustainability”.

Delval said that this was part of a process and said “we then communicate our actions in simple, accessible terms, sharing the same information across all available channels — training sessions, presentations, social media, and more”. This, he assured, has helped to boost the message.

‘People care’

Despite this, he identified how, really, it’s all about caring about the world. As Argea GHSE and sustainability director Michael Isnardi explained: “We’ve learned that people care about sustainability when it becomes tangible and relevant to their daily experience”. This, Isnardi pointed out, has meant that “instead of speaking in abstract terms” the business has sharpened its “focus on showing why sustainability matters”

Isnardi told db: “By involving people early in the process and demonstrating the practical benefits of innovation you can gain their interest.”

Durand explained that this was a method used at Champagne Canard-Duchêne, involving people. It has, after all, paid dividends. In fact, Durand insisted: “This approach helps engage or stimulate the entire internal staff around a collective project that fits into a shared and common vision. It is, in my opinion, much more effective.”

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