This November, Suntory Beverage & Food Europe marked its fourth Green Awareness Month with the theme “Tales from the Gemba: Sustainability in Action”. For the first time, the programme was extended from two weeks to a full month so that colleagues across Europe had more time to learn, explore and share how sustainability takes shape in their daily work and local context. 
 
Green Awareness Month is our annual moment to deepen understanding of sustainability, inspire ownership and further embed sustainable thinking into everyday work and life at SBFE. This year, the focus on the Gemba – the place where the value is created – helped connect strategic ambitions with concrete examples from across our business. 
 
The month opened with a session led by sustainability expert and author Mark Shayler, who set the stage by talking about how sustainability has evolved over time, where we are today and the opportunities ahead. He underlined that it is not enough to do things better, we also need to do better things and look for solutions that work with nature rather than against it. 
 
Later in November, we held a Europe wide session on Deposit Return Schemes (DRS). Colleagues from several markets shared practical lessons from countries that are preparing for or already operating DRS. A clear message from the discussion was the significant amount of time needed to prepare and the importance of strong collaboration across teams and markets. 
 
Throughout the month, markets across SBFE organised a wide variety of activities that brought the theme to life. These ranged from water stewardship and biodiversity sessions to circular economy and decarbonisation discussions, to immersive learning and local volunteering. Each activity highlighted how colleagues are putting sustainability into practice in ways that make sense for their local reality. 

Michelle Norman, Director of Sustainability and External Affairs, SBFE

To explore more about our sustainability efforts and initiatives and read our latest European sustainability report, visit our sustainability page here: Sustainability | Suntory Beverage & Food Europe