Sustainability (AQA A Level Business): Exam Questions

Source A: Severn Trent

Severn Trent Plc provides water and wastewater services to more than 9 million people across the Midlands and mid-Wales through its regulated business, Severn Trent Water. It is a public limited company listed on the London Stock Exchange and employs more than 11 000 people. In the year to 31 March 2026 its revenue rose 16.6% to £2 831 million and its profit before interest and tax rose 46% to £861 million. It invested £1 954 million in its water and wastewater networks, the largest investment programme in its history. The full-year dividend rose 3.5% to 126.02 pence a share, in line with the company's policy of increasing the dividend by at least the rate of inflation each year.

Water companies in England and Wales are the only suppliers of water and wastewater services in their regions. The prices they may charge, and the investment they must deliver, are set by the economic regulator, Ofwat, for five years at a time; the current period runs from 2025 to 2030. Companies receive financial rewards from Ofwat when they beat performance targets and pay penalties when they miss them. From April 2026 the average Severn Trent household bill for water and wastewater rose by £52, or 10%, to £587.

The discharge of sewage into rivers has become a major political issue. Severn Trent reports that:

• average spills from its storm overflows fell by 41% in 2025, to 15 for each overflow, beating its regulatory target and earning a reward of £10 million;

• pollution incidents fell by 35% to 178, two of which were confirmed as serious;

• it has committed to invest £450 million by 2030 to reduce spills to an average of fewer than 14 for each overflow.

The company supports customers who struggle to pay. During the year it provided £127 million of bill support to around 330 000 households, an average reduction of 64% on their bills, and it aims to help around 1 in 6 households in its region by 2030. Its employability programmes reached more than 15 000 people.

The company also works to improve the natural environment. During the year it planted almost 100 000 trees and 45 kilometres of hedgerow and restored 207 acres of habitat, and its performance on biodiversity reached the maximum financial reward available from the regulator. It generates renewable energy at its own sites.

Among its principal risks, Severn Trent lists uncertainty over regulatory, legislative and government reforms which could fundamentally change its operating environment.

Source: Severn Trent Plc, Preliminary Announcement of Annual Results, 20 May 2026

Appendix A: Severn Trent selected data

Source: Severn Trent Plc and Water UK

Appendix B: Severn Trent's environmental and customer performance

Source: Severn Trent Plc

Assess whether investing to reduce spills from storm overflows is likely to make Severn Trent more sustainable.

Calculate Severn Trent's operating profit margin for the year to 31 March 2026 to support your answer. Give your answer to one decimal place.

Source A: Yeo Valley

Yeo Valley Farms (Production) Limited makes yogurts, desserts, ice cream, fruit products and soups, which it sells to UK retailers under the Yeo Valley Organic brand and other brands, including Tideford. The business traces its origins to 1961, when Roger and Mary Mead bought a farm in the Yeo Valley in Somerset. Yeo Valley is the third largest yogurt brand in the UK, and all Yeo Valley branded products are organic. Most of its products are chilled foods with a short shelf life. The company states its purpose as "To Nurture and Nourish People and Planet".

In the 53 weeks to 1 June 2025 turnover rose 17.6% to £424.6 million, mainly because of higher sales volumes rather than higher prices. Profit before tax fell from £6.4 million to £4.7 million. The company has a long-stated aim of a 5% profit before tax margin, and is in the second year of a five-year plan which runs to May 2028.

Demand grew faster than the company's factories could meet. Large investments in production capacity and automation came into use from spring 2025; until then, the additional volume was made using less efficient methods. During the year the company also:

• raised the price it pays its organic dairy farmers by 16.5%, to give them the confidence to grow with the business and to attract new farmers into organic dairy;

• completed its first acquisition, The Collective, a more premium yogurt brand with ranges for children and indulgent desserts;

• launched products in new categories, including kefir, granola and an organic beef burger.

Five years ago employees became co-owners, when the company established an employee benefit trust which holds 20% of its shares on their behalf. The majority shareholder sits on the board as a non-executive director. Co-owners have a voice in decisions through Co-Ownership Forums, and the company measures their engagement through an annual survey, Yeo Voice.

The company identifies three principal risks:

• Resilience of supply. The number of dairy farmers in the UK is falling, and few are converting to organic.

• Availability of labour and skills, particularly in specialist technical roles.

• Cyber security. A breach could make the company's business systems unavailable. It has detailed business continuity plans, which are kept under regular review.

Yeo Valley buys all its electricity from verifiable renewable sources and holds ISO 14001 environmental accreditation. During the year it began a programme to reuse waste heat from its cooling processes in its heating processes, and improved pipework across its sites to reduce the energy lost. Much of the emissions from farm to fork fall outside the emissions it is required to report, and it is registering for science-based targets in order to set a date for reaching net zero. The company has given surplus food to the charity FareShare since 2015, providing 121.5 tonnes in the year.

Source: Yeo Valley Farms (Production) Limited, Annual Report and Financial Statements 2025

Appendix A: Yeo Valley selected data

The company aims to reach an employee engagement score of 81% by May 2028.

Source: Yeo Valley Farms (Production) Limited

Appendix B: Yeo Valley's reported emissions

Emissions, tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent

These figures do not include emissions from the farms which supply the company's milk and other ingredients.

Source: Yeo Valley Farms (Production) Limited, Streamlined Energy and Carbon Reporting

Assess whether growing its sales volume is likely to make Yeo Valley less environmentally sustainable.

Calculate Yeo Valley's employee productivity, in tonnes of food produced for each employee, for the 53 weeks to 1 June 2025 to support your answer. Give your answer to one decimal place.

Source B: Elmsworth Recycling

Elmsworth Recycling Limited recycles plastic packaging at a plant in Telford, Shropshire. The company was founded in 2009 by Dev Sharma, its Managing Director, and is owned by him and an investment firm. It employs 160 people. One in eight of them joined through a resettlement programme for people leaving prison, and each is given a mentor for their first six months.

The company buys bales of plastic pots, tubs and trays which households have put out for recycling, from the facilities that sort councils' collections. It shreds, washes and sorts the plastic, then melts it into pellets of recycled polypropylene, which it sells to manufacturers of plastic packaging. In the year to 30 June 2026 it bought 34 000 tonnes of bales and sold 26 500 tonnes of pellets. The plant can handle 40 000 tonnes of bales a year.

The material that cannot be made into pellets, such as labels, food residue and mixed plastics, is dealt with in two ways:

• 4 000 tonnes a year is sold to a broker, which ships it to Turkey.

• The remainder is sent to energy-from-waste plants in the UK, which charge a fee to burn it.

In 2024 the company installed a closed-loop system which cleans and reuses the water used to wash the plastic, cutting its use of mains water by three quarters. The system uses electricity to pump and filter the water. The remaining waste water is discharged to the public sewer, for which the company pays its water company a charge.

Packaging manufacturers can buy virgin polypropylene, made from oil, instead of Elmsworth Recycling's pellets. Since April 2022 the government has charged Plastic Packaging Tax on plastic packaging which contains less than 30% recycled plastic.

Source: Elmsworth Recycling

Appendix E: Elmsworth Recycling selected data

Source: Elmsworth Recycling

Appendix G: Elmsworth Recycling and the environment

Source: Analyst

Assess whether increasing its output is likely to make Elmsworth Recycling more environmentally sustainable.

Source A: Harbourne Joinery

Harbourne Joinery Limited makes timber windows, doors and staircases in a workshop near Totnes, Devon. The company was founded in 1994 by Martin Pryce and employs 48 people, including four apprentices. In the year to 31 March 2026 its sales came from three groups of customer:

• Owners of listed buildings and of homes in conservation areas, 46% of sales.

• Architects and building contractors, 34%.

• Small housebuilders, 20%.

All of the company's timber is certified as coming from responsibly managed forests, and 80% of it is bought from a single importer in Bristol. In 2021, when timber was scarce, the importer supplied Harbourne Joinery ahead of smaller customers.

In April 2025 Martin Pryce sold the whole company to an employee ownership trust for £4.2 million. The trust holds the shares on behalf of all employees; no employee owns shares individually. £600 000 was paid on completion from the company's cash. The remaining £3.6 million is to be paid from the company's profits after tax, in six annual instalments of £600 000 beginning in 2026/27. Under the rules for employee-owned companies, each employee may receive bonuses of up to £3 600 a year free of income tax, and each received a bonus of £1 000 in December 2025. Martin Pryce remains chair until 2027. The former production manager, Sian Kerr, has become Managing Director.

In 2019 the company installed a biomass boiler which burns the offcuts and sawdust from the workshop to heat the building and to dry timber. Before then, it paid to have this waste collected and heated the workshop with oil. The boiler must be loaded and cleaned by staff each day.

Harbourne Joinery's windows cost more than windows made of uPVC, a plastic. Timber frames can be repaired rather than replaced. Owners of listed buildings usually need consent to replace their windows, and are normally expected to replace them like for like.

The company is considering how it can demonstrate its commitment to its employees, its community and the environment. It is assessing three possibilities: certification as a B Corporation, taking on more apprentices, and a service which repairs old timber windows rather than replacing them.

Source: Harbourne Joinery

Appendix A: Timber and uPVC windows compared

A typical sash window, supplied and fitted

Main reason customers gave for choosing Harbourne Joinery, customer survey 2026

Source: Analyst

Assess whether promoting the environmental benefits of its timber windows is likely to increase Harbourne Joinery's sales.

Source B: Thornbury Mills

Thornbury Mills Limited is a private limited company which mills wheat into flour at a single site on the edge of Thornbury, South Gloucestershire. The business was founded in 1887 and is owned by the fourth generation of the Hale family. Its Managing Director is Clare Hale, and it employs 86 people. In the year to 31 July 2026 the mill processed 118 000 tonnes of wheat into 92 000 tonnes of flour and 25 000 tonnes of wheatfeed, the bran and other parts of the grain which are sold for animal feed. Most of the wheat is bought from farms in Gloucestershire, Wiltshire and Herefordshire.

The company sells flour to three types of customer:

• Two large plant bakeries, which make sliced bread for supermarkets. Together they bought 58% of its flour in the year.

• Biscuit and cake manufacturers.

• Craft bakeries, which buy flour in 16 kilogram bags.

Flour for each plant bakery is milled to that bakery's own specification, and a bakery wishing to change supplier must first run baking trials with flour from the new mill. The price the plant bakeries pay is agreed every three months with reference to the market price of wheat.

Thornbury Mills buys about 70% of the wheat it needs on forward contracts, which fix the price up to twelve months before the wheat is delivered. It buys the remainder at the market price at the time of delivery.

From 13 December 2026 the law requires every miller producing more than 500 tonnes of flour a year to add folic acid to non-wholemeal wheat flour, at 250 micrograms for every 100 grams. Flour must already contain added calcium, iron, niacin and thiamin. Thornbury Mills has installed dosing equipment costing £85 000, and estimates that the folic acid and the additional testing will cost £0.55 for each tonne of flour.

In 2023 a fire in the mill's dust extraction system stopped production for nine days. During that time the company's customers were supplied by another flour miller, under an agreement by which each mill supplies the other's customers if either stops production. The agreement remains in place.

The mill operates 24 hours a day and uses large amounts of electricity. In 2024 the company installed solar panels on the roofs of the mill and its warehouse. It delivers flour in its own fleet of 14 diesel lorries. Since 2023 it has bought 8% of its wheat from farms using regenerative methods, such as reduced ploughing and the planting of cover crops, and pays those farmers a premium of £15 a tonne. In 2026 the larger of its two plant bakery customers asked each of its suppliers to cut the emissions linked to the products they supply by 30% by 2030.

Source: Thornbury Mills

Appendix G: Thornbury Mills' emissions and the options for reducing them

Emissions linked to Thornbury Mills' flour, year to 31 July 2026

The solar panels installed in 2024

Source: Analyst

Assess whether installing solar panels on the mill has made Thornbury Mills more sustainable.

Calculate the payback period of the solar panels to support your answer. Give your answer to one decimal place.

Source B: Elvaston Food Hub

Elvaston Food Hub Limited is a private limited company, founded in Derby in 2017. It sells fresh food online from 60 farms and producers in Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire, all within 40 miles of Derby, and employs 38 people. Its range includes:

• fruit and vegetables

• meat and dairy products

• bread

Customers order through the company's website and app, which records each customer's order history. They choose a delivery slot at least one day ahead, and food is delivered within 15 miles of Derby. Elvaston buys from its producers only what customers have ordered.

All deliveries are made by electric van; the last of the company's diesel vans was replaced in 2025. Electric vans cost more to buy than diesel vans, but less to run. Food is delivered in reusable crates, which customers return.

In a customer survey, most customers said they buy from Elvaston mainly because its food is local.

The company faces two main pressures:

• Speed. Supermarkets and delivery apps in Derby offer grocery deliveries within one hour.

• Price. Elvaston's prices are higher than supermarket prices for most products.

Its directors are considering whether to launch a lower-priced range.

Source: Elvaston Food Hub

Appendix D: Elvaston Food Hub selected data

Source: Elvaston Food Hub

Appendix F: Sustainability

• All producers are within 40 miles of Derby.

• Electric vans cost Elvaston about 30% more to buy than diesel vans, but less to run.

Source: Elvaston Food Hub

Assess whether Elvaston Food Hub's investment in electric vans was worthwhile.

Calculate Elvaston Food Hub's operating profit margin in 2024 to support your answer. Give your answer to one decimal place.

Source A: Octopus Energy Group

Octopus Energy Group Limited is a privately owned company which supplies gas and electricity to households and businesses, installs low-carbon technology in homes, and owns Kraken, a software platform which manages energy customers' accounts. The group was founded in the UK in 2016. In the year to 30 April 2025 its revenue rose 10% to £13 683 million, and it supplied 9.94 million customers across eight countries, compared with 7.95 million a year earlier.

In January 2025 Octopus Energy became the largest household energy supplier in the UK, with 24% of the market measured by number of meters. Its UK customers reached 7.6 million, and it accounted for 42% of all switches between household energy suppliers during the year. It has been named a Which? Recommended Energy Supplier for eight consecutive years and holds a Trustpilot rating of 4.8 out of 5.

Every customer account in the group runs on Kraken. The platform combines data from customers' smart meters with weather data to forecast how much energy customers will use, and the group adjusts its purchases of gas and electricity each day as the forecast changes. Kraken is also licensed to other energy suppliers, including EDF Energy, and to water and broadband companies. In September 2025 the group announced its intention to demerge Kraken as a separate company.

The group buys energy in two ways:

• Fixed price contracts. For each customer on a fixed price, it buys the gas and electricity it expects that customer to use, in advance, for the whole length of the contract.

• The standard variable tariff. The maximum price is set by Ofgem, the energy regulator, every three months. The group buys energy for these customers on a rolling basis which follows the method Ofgem uses to set the price cap.

The group tests its finances against a range of shocks, including a period of cold weather combined with a rise in wholesale prices. The spring of 2025 was the warmest in the UK on record, and in April 2025 its UK customers used 25% less gas than normal for the time of year.

Octopus Energy supports customers who are struggling to pay. It employs social workers in every one of its UK locations, gave energy credit to more than 90 000 customers in financial hardship through its Octo Assist Fund, and made home visits to fit thermostats, timers and draught-proofing. Throughout the year it kept its standard variable tariff below the price cap by reducing standing charges, at a cost of £57 million.

The group's stated aim is to make energy greener, cheaper and fairer. It installs heat pumps, including its own Cosy range, together with solar panels, batteries and electric vehicle chargers, and offers smart tariffs which reward customers for using electricity when it is cheapest. Of the group's total emissions, 95% come from the gas its customers use. It has committed to reach net zero emissions across its whole value chain by 2040.

In the year to 30 April 2025 the group made a net loss of £255 million, compared with a profit of £83 million in the previous year.

Source: Octopus Energy Group Limited, Annual Report and Financial Statements 2025

Appendix A: Octopus Energy Group selected data

Underlying EBITDA is profit before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation, excluding one-off items.

Source: Octopus Energy Group Limited

Appendix B: Weather, gas and the move to low-carbon homes

The warm spring of 2025

UK customers used less energy than normal for the time of year: gas use was 11% lower in March and 25% lower in April, and electricity use was 1% lower in March and 7% lower in April. The warm weather reduced the group's EBITDA by about £103 million, of which about 90% arose in the UK. The group's stress tests model the effect of a cold winter combined with a rise in wholesale prices.

Moving homes away from gas.

• Installations. The group installed about 903 000 smart meters, against 749 000 the year before, and 65 000 heat pumps, electric vehicle chargers, solar panels and batteries, against 30 000.

• Revenue from the work. Revenue from metering services rose from £83 million to £164 million, and revenue from installation and other services from £72 million to £222 million.

• Smart tariffs. Intelligent Octopus, a tariff which runs customers' electric vehicle chargers and heat pumps when electricity is cheapest, grew by more than 70%. It now controls about 1.7 gigawatts of customers' equipment.

• Zero Bills homes. The group guarantees no energy bills for up to ten years in homes fitted with solar panels, a battery and a heat pump to its specification. It aims to deliver 100 000 such homes by 2030.

• Insulation. Under government schemes, energy suppliers must fund energy efficiency improvements in the homes of low-income customers.

• Emissions. 95% of the group's total emissions come from the gas its customers use. Its target is net zero across its whole value chain by 2040.

Source: Analyst, using Octopus Energy Group Limited Annual Report 2025

Appendix C: Octopus Energy Group's own emissions

Emissions from the group's own buildings and vehicles, tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent

These figures do not include emissions from the gas and electricity the group sells to its customers.

Source: Octopus Energy Group Limited, Streamlined Energy and Carbon Reporting

95% of Octopus Energy Group's total emissions come from the gas its customers use.

Evaluate two ways Octopus Energy Group could reduce the amount of gas its customers use and recommend which one it should focus on first.

Use information from Appendices A to C to support your answer.

Source B: Thornbury Mills

Thornbury Mills Limited is a private limited company which mills wheat into flour at a single site on the edge of Thornbury, South Gloucestershire. The business was founded in 1887 and is owned by the fourth generation of the Hale family. Its Managing Director is Clare Hale, and it employs 86 people. In the year to 31 July 2026 the mill processed 118 000 tonnes of wheat into 92 000 tonnes of flour and 25 000 tonnes of wheatfeed, the bran and other parts of the grain which are sold for animal feed. Most of the wheat is bought from farms in Gloucestershire, Wiltshire and Herefordshire.

The company sells flour to three types of customer:

• Two large plant bakeries, which make sliced bread for supermarkets. Together they bought 58% of its flour in the year.

• Biscuit and cake manufacturers.

• Craft bakeries, which buy flour in 16 kilogram bags.

Flour for each plant bakery is milled to that bakery's own specification, and a bakery wishing to change supplier must first run baking trials with flour from the new mill. The price the plant bakeries pay is agreed every three months with reference to the market price of wheat.

Thornbury Mills buys about 70% of the wheat it needs on forward contracts, which fix the price up to twelve months before the wheat is delivered. It buys the remainder at the market price at the time of delivery.

From 13 December 2026 the law requires every miller producing more than 500 tonnes of flour a year to add folic acid to non-wholemeal wheat flour, at 250 micrograms for every 100 grams. Flour must already contain added calcium, iron, niacin and thiamin. Thornbury Mills has installed dosing equipment costing £85 000, and estimates that the folic acid and the additional testing will cost £0.55 for each tonne of flour.

In 2023 a fire in the mill's dust extraction system stopped production for nine days. During that time the company's customers were supplied by another flour miller, under an agreement by which each mill supplies the other's customers if either stops production. The agreement remains in place.

The mill operates 24 hours a day and uses large amounts of electricity. In 2024 the company installed solar panels on the roofs of the mill and its warehouse. It delivers flour in its own fleet of 14 diesel lorries. Since 2023 it has bought 8% of its wheat from farms using regenerative methods, such as reduced ploughing and the planting of cover crops, and pays those farmers a premium of £15 a tonne. In 2026 the larger of its two plant bakery customers asked each of its suppliers to cut the emissions linked to the products they supply by 30% by 2030.

Source: Thornbury Mills

Appendix D: The UK flour milling industry

• Structure. 32 companies operate 51 flour mills in the UK. The four largest companies account for two thirds of the flour produced. The industry has an annual turnover of more than £1.8 billion and employs more than 2 500 people.

• Output. UK mills produced 3 782 000 tonnes of flour in 2024/25. Of this, 69.9% was used for bread-making, 14.5% for biscuits, 8.3% as an ingredient in other foods, 5.1% was sold in bags to households and 2.2% was used for cakes.

• Wheat. Mills used 4 819 000 tonnes of wheat in 2024/25. The share grown in the UK fell from 77.9% in 2023/24 to 68.7%, after the UK wheat harvest of 2024 was the smallest since 2020. Most of the remainder came from Germany and Canada.

• Energy. Milling is energy intensive. Millers receive support under the government's Energy Intensive Users scheme and pay a reduced rate of the Climate Change Levy.

• Imports. UK Flour Millers states that Turkey is the world's largest exporter of flour and that its flour exports are heavily subsidised.

• Folic acid. Mills producing less than 500 tonnes of flour a year are exempt from the requirement to add folic acid.

Source: Analyst, using UK Flour Millers Annual Review 2025

Appendix E: Thornbury Mills selected data

Source: Thornbury Mills

Appendix G: Thornbury Mills' emissions and the options for reducing them

Emissions linked to Thornbury Mills' flour, year to 31 July 2026

The solar panels installed in 2024

Source: Analyst

The larger of Thornbury Mills' two plant bakery customers has asked it to cut the emissions linked to the flour it supplies by 30% by 2030.

Evaluate two ways Thornbury Mills could reduce the emissions linked to its flour and recommend which one it should do first.

Source A: AG Barr

A.G. BARR p.l.c. is a UK drinks company listed on the London Stock Exchange. It employs about 1 000 people and has factories at Cumbernauld, near Glasgow, and Milton Keynes. Its brands include:

• IRN-BRU, the UK's third-biggest flavoured fizzy drink brand, 125 years old in 2026, with about 40% of sales outside Scotland

• Boost energy and sports drinks, whose revenue rose 12% in 2025/26

• Rubicon, Barr and MOMA oat drinks

In the 53 weeks to 31 January 2026, revenue rose 4.0% to £437.3 million. In early 2025 it raised some prices by between 1% and 11%, an approach it called "value over volume", and overall volume was "relatively flat". The chief executive, Euan Sutherland, aims to "double the size of the business".

In 2018 the sugar in regular IRN-BRU was cut from 10.3g to 4.7g per 100ml, and 96% of AG Barr's soft drinks by volume contain under 5g of sugar per 100ml.

Soft drinks are closely regulated:

• Sugar. The Soft Drinks Industry Levy applies to drinks with 5g or more of sugar per 100ml.

• Advertising. Paid online advertising of less healthy food and drink has been banned since January 2026. AG Barr says it never advertises caffeinated or energy products to under-16s.

• Energy drinks. The government plans to ban selling drinks with more than 150mg of caffeine per litre to under-16s in England from April 2027.

• Packaging. A deposit return scheme for plastic bottles and cans is due in October 2027.

The company says: "We view regulation as a catalyst for innovation."

Source: A.G. BARR p.l.c., annual report and final results for the 53 weeks ended 31 January 2026, and interim results for the 26 weeks ended 1 August 2026

Appendix A: AG Barr financial data

• Brands. IRN-BRU was 32% of revenue in 2025/26, down from 43% five years earlier. Boost revenue rose 12%. In July 2025 AG Barr bought 50.1% of Innate-Essence, a maker of health drinks, for £14.7 million.

• Targets. Revenue growth of at least 4% a year and an operating margin of 14% to 16%.

• Half year to 1 August 2026. Revenue rose 8.5% to £247.4 million. Supply problems cost an estimated £10 million of lost revenue. After acquisitions and capital spending, net cash of £41.6 million had become net debt of £47.0 million.

Source: A.G. BARR p.l.c.

Appendix B: Health, regulation and the community

• IRN-BRU. In January 2018, before the sugar levy began, the sugar in regular IRN-BRU was cut from 10.3g to 4.7g per 100ml.

• Sugar levy from January 2028. The threshold falls from 5g to 4.5g of sugar per 100ml, and oat and other milk-substitute drinks with added sugar will no longer be exempt. AG Barr says it is "considering the extent of any further reformulation".

• Energy drinks. In July 2026 the government announced that selling drinks with more than 150mg of caffeine per litre to under-16s in England would be banned from April 2027, subject to Parliament.

• Marketing. "We never advertise HFSS, caffeinated or energy products to under 16s."

• Charity. AG Barr is moving from one national charity partner, given £50 000 a year, to one local charity at each of its four main sites, given £25 000 each a year. It also supports FareShare and local food banks.

Source: Analyst, using A.G. BARR p.l.c. and UK government announcements

Appendix C: Sustainability and digital

• Targets. Net zero emissions across its whole supply chain by 2050; 100% recyclable packaging by 2027.

• Water. The Milton Keynes site may be in an area of high water stress by 2030.

• Deposit return scheme. AG Barr is a founding investing member of the organisation that will run the scheme, which it expects to improve the supply of recycled plastic.

• Digital. A Chief Digital and Technology Officer joined in February 2026. The board wants to "accelerate its understanding and adoption of AI and digital transformation". Capital spending in 2025/26 focused on "supply chain optimisation and systems modernisation".

• Marketing. The 2026 IRN-BRU summer campaign set "several records for the brand achieved across TV, digital and social channels". A MOMA digital campaign reached 10 million consumers.

Source: A.G. BARR p.l.c.

Evaluate whether AG Barr should give priority to cutting its supply chain emissions or to reducing its water use, and recommend which it should choose.