This article was first published in The Grocer here on 18th February 2026
Written by Olio’s CEO and co-founder, Tessa Clarke
Last year was a reckoning for many of us working in sustainability and ESG.
Not because the climate crisis became less urgent. Not because environmental targets became less important.
But because it became increasingly clear that the language we were using wasn’t landing.
Net zero, carbon metrics, ESG frameworks: important tools, but not what most people wake up thinking about.
If we want to make real progress, we need to start talking about “doing good” differently
We learned this lesson directly at Olio through our work helping retailers and food businesses tackle their surplus food.
For years, we described our impact using a simple 3Ps model: planet, people, personal. We led with environmental benefit: tonnes of CO₂ and litres of water saved, waste prevented. Then we talked about community impact.
Only at the end did we mention the personal impact.
Over time, we realised: we had it back to front
Now, we lead with the personal: how good it feels to give good, edible food a second chance; how much money families can save. Then we talk about people: the connections formed between neighbours, the friendships built, the sense of dignity preserved when food is shared rather than handed out.
Only then do we talk about the planet. The environmental impact hasn’t changed. But the order has.
That shift matters far beyond one organisation’s communications strategy. It reflects something bigger happening in society.
Take the recent rise of Instagram account @food_waste_inspector_. The strength of reaction in the comments isn’t primarily about carbon emissions. It’s about fairness. It’s about the optics of edible food being thrown away in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis. It’s about families struggling while surplus goes to waste. The outrage is social and economic before it is environmental. Consumers are not rejecting sustainability; they are demanding that it connect to lived experience.
The same shift is visible at policy level. A few weeks ago, government convened a group of us from across the industry at Number 10 Downing Street to discuss what a national effort to end food waste should look like. The framing was not climate first. It was cost of living, food security and resilience.
Reducing waste is recognised as one of the fastest ways to put money back into households without increasing public spending. That is “doing good” in a language people understand.
For the grocery industry, this reframing presents both an opportunity and a challenge
For years, sustainability strategies have been communicated in environmental shorthand. Yet shoppers are navigating squeezed budgets, rising rents and volatile food prices. When they see waste, their instinctive response is not to calculate emissions; it is to question why that food wasn’t eaten.
If the sector wants to lead on “goodness”, it needs to start where customers are.
That means talking about feeding families before carbon factors. About community connection before climate targets. About efficiency and value before ESG acronyms. The environmental gains will follow, but they cannot be the opening line.
None of this diminishes the urgency of the climate challenge. It strengthens the case for protecting the planet. Because when people see how waste reduction directly improves their own lives and their communities, participation becomes instinctive rather than ideological.
Doing good is not about abandoning ambition. It is about changing the order of the conversation.
Start with the personal, scale through the people, and the planetary impact will follow. The future of “goodness” begins with making it feel closer to home.