As the chief executive of Wrap, the resource efficiency delivery body for all four UK governments, I am acutely aware of the financial and environmental issues facing UK businesses.

Raw material prices are rising, population is increasing, and resources are diminishing, and connected to this is the necessity to generate revenue and improve market share.

The grocery industry is no different. It is currently grappling with the impacts of climate change, a poor harvest and food security issues, while ensuring products make it to the shelf for consumers. This is the backdrop to the Courtauld Commitment 2, a voluntary agreement to improve resource efficiency and reduce the carbon impact of the UK grocery sector.

Why do I think the Courtauld Commitment 2 is important? UK businesses consume 600m tonnes of materials per annum, around a third of which ends up as waste and much of which could have been used productively.

The aim of this voluntary agreement is to challenge the sector and its supply chain to tackle the most resource intensive areas through stretching targets:

• To reduce the carbon impact of grocery packaging by 10% by reducing the weight, increasing recycling rates and the recycled content of all grocery packaging.

• To reduce household food and drink wastes by 4%.

• To reduce traditional grocery product and packaging waste in the grocery supply chain by 5%.

(The three Courtauld Commitment 2 targets are measured against a 2009 baseline.)

Recently announced year two results are hugely encouraging, with a considerable reduction in supply chain of 8.8% less against the 5% target. The packaging result of 8.2% is more than three quarters of the way towards the 10% target of carbon reduction and a 3% reduction against 4% for household food waste builds on the 1.1m tonnes reduction achieved between 2006/7-2010.

These results are indicative of the grocery sector's desire to take action, reduce its carbon impacts, waste less and ultimately, put less pressure on resources.

I am often asked why Wrap has set targets and helps focus delivery; why isn't the sector doing this on its own? This is surprisingly easy to answer. We act as a catalyst, accelerating changes in the behaviour of consumers, public and private sectors in ways that neither governments nor individual companies can. The Courtauld Commitment is pioneering. It enables signatories such as large retailers and brands to move the sector forward collectively, while stimulating competition through their own individual bold delivery methods.

Take Easter egg packaging, for example. No individual company or retailer wanted to impact sales by moving on its own to make packaging innovation changes, but by moving collectively, packaging was cut by 25% and, in some cases, by as much as 50% in 2009 – a result delivered by leading confectionery brands, manufacturers and retailers.

The second question I am routinely asked is whether retailers and household names are doing enough? But what is enough? It's clear from the results that the sector is exceeding expectation, particularly in the supply chain, which is a new area of focus for many. Sainsbury's has been particularly progressive: its real time supply chain system trial in convenience stores resulted in an increase in on-shelf availability of 2.2% and a cut in product waste by 2%. It is difficult to introduce a system change but it had a dramatic impact, so worth the effort.

An innovation which has targeted both household food waste and packaging is the Heinz Beanz resealable plastic pack that can be kept in the fridge and keeps the product fresh for five days. It also includes a transparent portion guide so there is no excuse to waste even a bean. Wasted food is wasted money. UK households currently throw away 7.2m tonnes of food a year; more than half could have been eaten, offering a saving of around £12bn pounds.

But it's not just the brands that have come up with new creations that form part of the weekly shop; supermarkets are also doing their bit too. M&S has rolled out new labels on everyday products with one single date and improved freezing guidance, replacing the previous confusing labels we have been used to.

These initiatives are just some of the great ways in which organisations are tackling the issues. But the challenges posed by a rising population and ever-decreasing resources are not going to be managed by individual action. It requires long term behavioural change, collective thinking and collective action. This must also stimulate competition in delivering the targets, drive innovation and, importantly, deliver change that works well for business and for the environment.

Dr Liz Goodwin is chief executive of Wrap

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