Carolyn Ball

Director for Delivery of Net Zero, Compass Group UK & I

Achieving Net Zero targets

Carolyn is the Director for Delivery of Net Zero for Compass Group UK & Ireland, leading multi-disciplinary teams across six sectors to decarbonise its multibillion-pound business: 50,000-strong workforce, 214mn meals, 4,000+ locations, £1.4bn procurement spend. She also sits on the Sustainability Leadership Team for its FTSE100 parent company: Compass Group plc, the largest contract caterer in the world.

She has 20 years’ experience across diverse roles spanning news reporting, trade journalism, 15th Century manuscript transcription (recipes) and commercial leadership positions in a start-up, SME and two plcs. This work has given her a front row seat to the complexities of the food system, its dependency on the natural world and the urgency with which we need to communicate the commercial and social significance of recovering this relationship.