Sustainable Restaurant Association and Ecotricity team up for green food push

Green energy supplier to work with SRA to encourage more restaurants to switch to green power and gas

The Sustainable Restaurant Association (SRA) has teamed up with green energy provider Ecotricity, as part of a new campaign designed to make it easier for restaurants to switch to renewable energy supplies.

The body, which works with over 8,000 member sites across the UK to encourage restaurants and food service businesses to embrace environmental best practices, yesterday hosted a roundtable with Ecotricity designed to provide food businesses with up to date information on how to secure credible green energy supplies.
The two organisations said they would also work together to develop a range of resources that would “help businesses make an informed decision about switching their energy supply” and embracing “one of the most significant changes an operator can make to lower its carbon footprint”.

Juliane Caillouette-Noble, development director of the SRA, said securing renewable energy supplies could have a major impact on the food industry’s carbon footprint.

“The UK food service sector emits more greenhouse gases than Costa Rica,” she said. “So, we are really excited to be collaborating with Ecotricity to provide our members with clear, practical, timely and relevant information to help them make the right decisions about their energy supply.”

The partnership was also welcomed by Ecotricity founder, Dale Vince, who said the company was looking forward to “helping restaurants across the country switch to green energy and help them on their journey to making this a greener Britain”.

The partnership steps up Ecotricity’s engagement with food-related issues, after recently announcing it has secured Vegan Society approval for its biogas.

The company launched a controversial campaign this summer to highlight how its power and green gas is not generated using by-products from the dairy and livestock industries and as such qualifies as vegan.

The anaerobic digestion industry responded by stressing the energy it produced using waste by-products that would otherwise result in increased methane emissions.