Exclusive Interview Inside Food & Drink interviews Rachael Rothman, Professor of Sustainable Chemical Engineering at the University of Sheffield.
Educating on best SUSTAINABILITY PRACTICES throughout the food and drink industry
Rachael Rothman has devoted her career to sustainability at the University of Sheffield. As a Professor of Sustainable Chemical Engineering, Associate Director at Grantham Centre for Sustainable Futures, and Academic Lead for Sustainability, she outlines the work being done between academia and business to ensure companies maximise their sustainability impact, today, tomorrow and in the years to come. Daniel Barnes asked the questions. Rachael, please tell us about your background and your role as the Academic Lead for Sustainability at the University of Sheffield. I am a chemical engineer who grew up in Teesside, studied in Cambridge then came to Sheffield (via Sweden) and have been here almost 20 years. I love running and exploring the outdoors so being so close to the Peak District but in a thriving city is perfect. We now have two boys who keep us busy and inspire me to use my skills and knowledge to protect our environment and help us live more sustainably. I started my research career looking at low carbon hydrogen production then moved into carbon dioxide utilisation. Both of these areas required detailed technical knowledge of the relevant processes, but also an ability to look at a whole system to evaluate potential impacts and benefits. Gradually I moved more into systems level analysis of processes and sustainability and a few years ago started applying this to plastics as well as the broader energy picture. As University Academic Lead for Sustainability I lead our university’s sustainability work, including the development of our five year sustainability strategy which we launched in 14
Inside Food & Drink
November 2020. The strategy was co-created with staff and students from across the university and outlines our thinking around sustainability (for example, that there is always a balance between different factors and that environmental, economic and social sustainability are important). The strategy includes targets across our campus, teaching and research. We aim to be net zero for scope 1 and 2 emissions (those related to electricity and heating and those that we are directly responsible for e.g. fleet vehicles) by 2030 and for all other emissions by 2038. The strategy is accompanied by an action plan which is continuously evolving and updated to help us meet our targets. The food and waste sections of our strategy commit to reducing sale of high impact food, investigating local and on campus food growing and reducing single-use packaging and waste. We have already completed several ‘living labs’ projects where academics, students and professional services staff work together to provide the evidence base for making more sustainable decisions, and then implement change on campus. Our move to milk churns (from plastic bottles) is a great example of this.
