Specsavers’ global sustainability team is setting ambitious targets, including carbon net zero by 2050. CATHY RENNIE MATOS will be responsible for driving this at a regional level and discusses what steps are taking place now, and what lies ahead.
When Ms Cathy Rennie Matos sat down to discuss her new role within Specsavers Australia & New Zealand, she was packing her bag for a business trip to Europe to meet her counterparts in the company’s global sustainability team for the first time.
“I’m going to spend time with my colleagues from the UK and Northern Europe, as well as our subject matter experts, and look at how they’re managing matters such as recycling and waste,” Matos says.
“There’s a lot that Northern Europe, as a region, is doing in the sustainability space, in terms of its infrastructure and the way it approaches waste, and I’m interested in better understanding that for our operations in Australia and New Zealand.”
With a communications and marketing background, Matos has been head of public relations at Specsavers ANZ for the past five years but performing a dual PR-sustainability role for the last two. She then transitioned into the newly created head of sustainability position at Specsavers ANZ in March 2023.
It’s an issue the company has taken seriously for some time. But the appointment of Specsavers global CEO Mr John Perkins as chief sustainability officer is perhaps indicative of an even greater emphasis on issues such as energy consumption, packaging, and the suppliers it does business with.
Increasingly, consumers are also seeking out the products and services of environmentally conscious optical products and businesses.
Perkins’ appointment set in motion a process of creating a sustainability agenda that would form part of the company’s long-term framework, including what structures were needed within the organisation to deliver on its sustainability ambitions.
“We want to continue to change lives through better sight and hearing, but we want to do it in a way that is better for our people, our communities and our planet,” Matos says.
Specsavers’ global sustainability team further identified its ambitions within the three pillars of: people, communities, and planet. It wants to be carbon net zero by 2050 and reduce the environmental impact of its operations and material consumption, including product, packaging, water, resource management and waste.
“We also want to empower our people to be able to make a difference themselves in their local communities and live and work more sustainably. That includes volunteerism and supporting fundraising efforts, diversity and inclusion, and health and wellbeing programs,” Matos says.
“In the community, our ambition is to enhance access to sight and hearing care services and support for people in our communities who are facing barriers to care, whether it be geography, language, or cost.”
The company is working with a group of subject matter experts as part of its global sustainability team to develop strategies and support each region in delivering on its goals.
“We’ve got a carbon expert, a packaging and waste expert, and we’ve recently brought on board a materials expert who will work closely with our supply chain and product teams on the materials that go into our products,” Matos says.
Carbon crusade
The biggest contributor to carbon emissions in the optics industry derives from the purchase of goods and services, predominantly contact lenses, frames and spectacle lenses, and the manufacture of optical equipment. Transport and distribution, capital expenditure, and business travel contribute to a lesser degree.
As Matos explains, carbon emissions are divided by scope; Scope 1 are direct emissions from sources owned or controlled by a company; Scope 2 are indirect emissions from purchased electricity, steam, heat, and cooling, and Scope 3 are all other emissions associated with a company’s activities.
“We’ve been working globally with an agency called Carbon Intelligence on establishing our carbon baseline and are in the process of taking a recommendation on an interim target for Scope 1 and 2, as well as an interim target for Scope 3, to our executive board,” Matos says.
“From Specsavers’ perspective, our electricity usage and the F gas that comes from air conditioning units within stores fall under Scope 1 and 2. We need to be transitioning to renewable energy.”
The company’s carbon reduction plan is aligned with the globally recognised Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), a gold-class standard which provides companies with a clearly defined path to reducing emissions in line with the Paris Agreement to limit global temperature increase to below 1.5 degrees.
It is starting to make inroads; the company moved all its centrally-procured electricity over to a renewable tariff as of January.
“I’ve also been working with the Australian Retailers Association, who have been holding workshops on getting to net zero,” Matos says. “Speaking to other retailers, a lot of organisations are currently navigating how to do this. We are fortunate because, being a global organisation, we were able to bring in external consultants to help us. Optometry Australia has also brought a consultant on board for the same purpose.”
Supplier engagement
Having set its interim and long-term carbon emission targets, Matos says Specsavers is now starting to focus on what its carbon reduction strategy looks like.
A big part of that is in supplier engagement. “We need to be working as an industry with our suppliers to get where we need to. We can only do it by collaborating,” she says.
“Our supply chain team is starting to have those conversations, especially with our biggest suppliers. That’s going to happen over a long period of time. We need to understand where they are on the sustainability journey, and where we can lean in and offer support. Some may not be as far along as others, but we can learn from, and support, each other through it.”
As Matos points out, there are several companies within the optical industry that have started devoting more resources to developing a sustainability charter. It is, in part, driven by consumer demand.
“We conduct consumer research a couple of times a year to get a feel from consumers about what they think is important. They are becoming savvier, and their expectations of organisations are rising in terms of materials, waste, and working on becoming carbon net zero. We have had feedback from customers asking whether a particular type of daily contact lens is available as a monthly so there’s less waste. I think we’ll see more of that,” Matos says.
As someone familiar with the machinations of PR, Matos says she is noticing a discernible increase in the amount of advertising from organisations in Australia promoting what they’re doing in the sustainability space.
“It’s right at the top of the ACCC’s agenda. As more government regulation comes in, I think we’ll continue to see growing consumer expectations. But it’s not about doing it because that’s what consumers want; it’s because it’s the right thing to do, in terms of the environment and business resilience,” she says.
“We want to make sure that any claims we put out there about our sustainability actions are 100% accurate, that consumers understand what we’re saying. Ours is a complex industry and I think we have a responsibility to make sure we’re educating consumers.”
Packaging protocol
A carbon reduction plan that is aligned with SBTi is one of the more immediate actions Specsavers is taking towards implementing its sustainability initiatives, but Matos says the company is also undertaking several packaging-related projects.
“Working with an expert in materials and looking at how we can reduce the environmental impact of packaging. That includes how we can reduce the amount of plastic we use, how we can make packaging more recyclable, and made from recycled materials,” she says.
“Specsavers ANZ became a signatory to the Australian Packaging Covenant last year and we’ve got targets over the next seven years aligned with Australia’s 2025 National Packaging Targets.”
Matos and her team are investigating whether the company has the infrastructure in place to capitalise on recycling opportunities. It started recycling demo lenses last year and is working this year on glasses recycling to complement glasses reuse.
“We have worked with Lions Recycle For Sight for many years but not all glasses can be reused. We’re working hard to find a solution to recycle frames and lenses that can’t be reused, such as display models, for instance,” Matos says.
“Most of our packaging sits within the supply chain. From a customer’s perspective, if they purchase and pick up through a store, they receive their glasses in a case with a lens cloth in a carry bag. For us, it’s about figuring out how we can reduce the amount of plastic that we have within the supply chain that ends up in store, and looking at how we can ensure that stores can recycle any plastic that does get to store level.”
Before Matos can meet with her sustainably-minded counterparts in northern Europe, she is first boarding a flight to the Northern Territory.
“I’m taking our executive board up to Alice Springs on a cultural learning trip [in May] – it falls within our ‘People’ pillar in our sustainability agenda,” she explains.
“Last year the board signed off on a plan to better integrate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture into the business. As part of that, we’ve recently introduced cultural protocols across the business, and are going to be rolling out cultural learning and awareness training this year.
“As part of the board’s cultural learning, they are meeting with some of The Fred Hollows Foundation program partners in the Alice Springs Hospital and the Central Australian Aboriginal Congress to better understand some of the challenges they face in delivering eye care to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. We support both of those programs through our support of The Fred Hollows Foundation.”
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