As Peter Harding’s mandate as President of UNESDA came to an end, we at UNESDA caught up with Peter to reflect on the key highlights from his two-year tenure and discuss his views on the future of the European soft drinks sector. Keep reading!
1. After completing your two-year mandate of extraordinary leadership, you are stepping down from the presidency of UNESDA. What would you say has been the most rewarding aspects of leading the association?
First and foremost, I’ve been proud to have represented the collective voice of the industry and to have contributed to enhancing our sector’s reputation and continued relevance. My focus has been to positively demonstrate how we support over 1.8 million jobs, both directly and throughout our supply chain, and how our drinks positively contribute to the social fabric of European life.
2. You led UNESDA during a particularly demanding EU legislative period. What do you consider to be the most significant accomplishments of UNESDA under your leadership?
We have positioned ourselves as a trusted, proactive and constructive stakeholder that provides expertise and practical solutions.
We have deepened our collaboration with other stakeholders, including the NGO community, to increase our impact in shaping sound policies that benefit our consumers, environment and businesses. UNESDA has also grown its own network, strengthening the links with member states and supporting more manufacturers across Europe.
In our 2024-2029 Manifesto, we outlined our ambitions for the next years and demonstrated our firm commitment to healthier lifestyles, environmental sustainability and to our role as a key contributor for socio-economic progress.
3. Could you share a few achievements of the sector that you are most proud of?
The soft drinks sector was recently ranked as the most innovative in the food and drink industry (FoodDrinkEurope Data & Trends Report). We are creating new consumption experiences for our consumers, responding to their changing preferences and tastes, innovating to offer new drinks with new flavours in a wide range of sustainable packaging or packaging-free alternatives.
We are leading the way in areas like sugar reduction, packaging, and environmental responsibility. Our sector has a strong history of taking bold actions and fulfilling commitments without waiting for legislation. In particular, I would like to highlight:
a) our continued voluntary actions to support healthier diets, from sugar reduction, no-advertising and marketing children policy and responsible school policies (including no sales of soft drinks in Europe’s primary schools). We have been pioneers in sugar reduction in the food and drink industry and since 2000, we have achieved an average sugar reduction of 33.9% across Europe – no other industry has reached such a significant milestone.
b) our ambitious efforts to achieve packaging circularity – with investments in recyclability, use of recycled content in our plastic beverage bottles, and efficient collection systems like Deposit and Return Systems (DRS). These important steps have helped us support key circularity initiatives and achieve remarkable milestones:
- An increasing number of European countries have rolled out DRS in the past few years (e.g. Austria, Ireland, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Romania and Slovakia), resulting in a considerable rise in collection rates of beverage packaging in those countries.
- A majority of UNESDA corporate members have already achieved the objective of 100% recyclability by 2025 – or are very close to doing so.
4. How do you see the sector moving forward, and what is needed to achieve its ambitions?
Our industry is dedicated to supporting a healthier, sustainable European food system. We will remain a reliable and constructive stakeholder.
We contribute significantly to Europe’s socio-economic landscape by supporting over 1.8 million jobs. Our diverse industry, ranging from small businesses to global brands, manufactures more than 97% of soft drinks within Europe and sources over 85% of ingredients from European farmers.
We need a stable, supportive legislative framework to help businesses grow, innovate, and benefit local economies and European consumers. An agenda promoting voluntary initiatives like the EU Code of Conduct on Responsible Food Business and Marketing Practices is also essential for meaningful change.
