Green thinking to cut JJ Foodservice carbon usage

JJ Foodservice has pledged to cut its carbon footprint by moving its total computing infrastructure to the cloud

The move of the foodservice wholesaler to Microsoft Azure is a step in the right direction, as the cloud-computing service aims to be carbon negative by 2030.

By shifting to cloud-computing, the business will rely less on hardware and physical machines. The result is a reduction in energy use and environmental impact – adding to JJ’s 54% reduction in carbon emissions since 2014.

Microsoft has committed to achieving four major sustainability goals by 2030: to be carbon negative, water positive, achieve zero waste, and to protect more land than it uses.

“We are on a journey to migrate to cloud-based services using Microsoft Azure, which has committed to being carbon negative by 2030,” said Chief Technology Officer Mick Dudley.

“This [JJ’s 54% reduction in carbon emissions] is a great achievement when you consider that we’ve opened three new branches in that time.”

Technology isn’t the only area where the business is looking to increase sustainability.

JJ will also expand its vegan and organic produce, and biodegradable-packaging offering.

Sales of vegetarian and vegan products increased by 22% over the past two years, while bio-packaging sales have surged by 86%.

“We want to continue helping our customers to eat more sustainably by offering an even wider range,” added Chief Product Officer, Sezer Ozkul.