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Richard Scott2025-10-23 09:42:272025-10-23 14:45:263Keel explains latest EUDR changesCASE STUDY INNOCENT DRINKS
Engaging innocent’s suppliers on sustainability
We supported innocent’s hero supplier programme – a bespoke programme for engaging with their suppliers on sustainability across four key stages of the supply chain: manufacturing, packaging, logistics, and ingredients.
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nnocent drinks’ vision is to make natural, delicious food and drink that helps people and the planet to live well and die old. Mostly known for its fruit juices and smoothies, innocent is a global leader in sustainability and looks to use business as a force for good, as recognised by their certification as a B Corp.
The innocent sustainability team recognised early on that engaging with suppliers on sustainability was key to being a force for good and to building a strong and resilient business. The main strategy for engaging their suppliers on sustainability is through the hero supplier programme, and in 2018, 3Keel was brought on board to support and develop it.
The hero supplier programme is innocent’s bespoke programme for engaging its suppliers on sustainability. Each supplier can earn a score between 0 dudes (the dude being the name of the innocent logo) for those at the start of their sustainability journey and up to 3 dudes for suppliers who are at the cutting edge.
Its primary tool is the hero checklist – a questionnaire that was co-developed between the innocent sustainability team and 3Keel to enable an evidence-based assessment of suppliers’ sustainability performance. The checklist is based primarily on the collection of qualitative information about the company, its policies, and practices. It scores suppliers in seven areas:
3Keel worked closely with several teams at innocent to manage the technical delivery of the programme, including scorecard design, supplier onboarding, support, and assessment of responses. To help innocent track improvements over time, we also delivered ongoing collection and analysis of supplier environmental KPI data. The bespoke service included 1:1 support for each supplier, developed with innocent’s friendly but focused culture at its core.
We worked with innocent to triple the number of participating supplier sites and diversify the approach to include four stages of the supply chain: manufacturing, packaging, logistics, and ingredients providers. In 2020, we worked with Herring Consultancy Limited to add social dimensions to the checklist, which we trialled with the ingredients suppliers.
In the spirit of sharing materials, the checklist files are available on the innocent website to help others wishing to take a similar approach in their supply chain.
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