Nando’s offers carbon footprint support to suppliers and will regularly review equipment as it eyes a greener future

Nando’s has said it will support suppliers with reducing their own carbon footprints and explore further ways to cut emissions from its restaurants as it ramps up its focus on climate change.

Since 2015, the chain has reduced the carbon footprint of every one of its meals by 40% while acknowledging that there is plenty more to do before it can call itself a truly sustainable business.

Its new commitment to fighting climate change, which has been approved and validated by the international Science Based Targets initiative, is to reduce absolute scope 1 and 2 GHG emission 100% by 2030 from a 2019 base year.

Nando’s also commits to reduce scope 3 emissions 42% per meal by 2030 from a 2019 base year.

The chain, which runs over 400 restaurants in the UK, managed to offset all its carbon emissions last year, but said it would also work with partners that offer carbon removal projects in future. “That work will take time but has already begun,” the company stated.

Setting out its sustainability agenda on its website, Nando’s said that recent announcements around its environmental activities were not just an effort to gain some positive PR.

“We have been working away behind the scenes on sustainability for years and have had an in-house team dedicated to sustainability since 2013. What has changed recently is our decision to become more public in our communications around sustainability,” it explained.

Nando’s employs a network of ‘Do The Right Thing Champions’ within its business which, among other things, help monitor energy usage in restaurants.

With these Champions in place and the company buying green electricity and gas in England, Scotland and Wales, it can ensure that its restaurants are almost carbon neutral in their own right.

Nando’s has developed a sustainable fit-out guide to ensure that every restaurant it opens or refurbishes is as sustainable as possible.

All its lighting is LED and it uses as much recycled content as possible in things like tiles and flooring. It also has building management systems that regulate energy usage.

The company said it “regularly reviews equipment” to see where it can make water savings in places like the dishwashers and spray taps, while all kitchen taps are push to go, so they can’t ever be left running. An internal campaign has been launched to reduce its food waste and increase recycling within restaurants.

Food is the largest contributor to Nando’s overall emissions, representing 65% of its output in FY21.

According to the company, offsetting all its emissions across its restaurants and supply chain is equivalent to the annual emissions of 20,257 British citizens, 28,269 flights around the world and 71,000 cars being driven in the UK for a year.

In terms of how it manages old equipment, the company outlined: “Nando’s is proud to be one of the original backers of Globechain, now the UK and Ireland’s largest re-use platform. We work with Globechain to ensure that equipment and furniture we’re no longer using doesn’t go to waste, but gets redistributed to charities and communities that really need them.

“Since 2015 we have given away over 5,000 items. This has helped charities save over £40,000 and prevented 70 tonnes of waste going to landfill.”