LSE-listed FMCG
3 manufacturing sites
1,000+ employees
AG Barr plc – the iconic UK soft drinks group behind IRN-BRU, Rubicon and Funkin. 1,000+ employees. Three manufacturing sites. SBTi-validated targets, ISS and CDP under the spotlight. The brief was clear: build a hyper-tailored sustainability training programme across the whole organisation, role by role, that aligns the workforce with the sustainability strategy and changes day-to-day behaviour – not a generic e-learning rollout.
Role specific modules
Employees in scope
Tailored staff groups
Manufacturing sites
The brief
AG Barr’s sustainability strategy is serious and externally validated: SBTi-validated near-term targets and a clear commitment to net zero by 2050. With 1,200 people across its manufacturing sites and head office, each with a different role to play and different levers to pull, the company wanted every employee equipped to help deliver that ambition. A single, one-size-fits-all e-learning module was never going to do a strategy this considered justice.
The brief: design and deliver a hyper-tailored sustainability training programme across the whole organisation. Role-specific, behaviour-led, and explicitly aligned to AG Barr’s SBTi commitments and the recognised reporting standards the business works to. Not a tick-box compliance module, but a workforce-wide capability build.
The four frameworks · which one applies
01
Strategic context, SBTi obligations, climate-related financial disclosure (TCFD), governance of the transition. Short, sharp, board-ready.
02
Translating strategy into functional plans. P&L impact of the targets. Cross-functional accountability. The leadership behaviours that signal the shift.
03
Deeper technical content for the embedded champions network: carbon literacy, scope 3 hot-spots, and how to challenge decisions without slowing the business.
04
Site-level content for teams across AG Barr’s manufacturing operations. Energy, water, waste, refrigerants, packaging and line behaviours: the practical decisions that move scope 1 & 2.
05
Where much of the carbon sits. Procurement levers, supplier engagement, ingredient impact and distribution, built around AG Barr’s scope 3 ambitions.
06
How to communicate the sustainability behind IRN-BRU, Rubicon and Funkin with credibility and confidence: well-substantiated claims, a clear consumer narrative, and marketing the brand can stand behind.
07
HR, Finance, IT and Legal: sustainability literacy that reflects how their decisions ladder into the strategy. Not a generic awareness module.
Phased delivery
Designed in two phases so the rollout fits AG Barr’s operational rhythm rather than disrupting it. Phase 1 lands the foundational layer across leadership and champions; Phase 2 deploys the role-specific modules across the wider workforce.
Launch across board, executive, senior leadership and the sustainability champions network. Strategic context, SBTi alignment, leadership behaviours. Sets the tone before the wider rollout.
Role-specific modules deployed across manufacturing operations, commercial, supply chain, marketing, brand and support functions. Multi-site, in cadence with the operational calendar.
Refresh modules, behaviour-change reinforcement, manager-led conversations, and an evidence pack that supports AG Barr’s reporting and disclosure. Capability transfer to the in-house team.
Re-run on the existing architecture, refreshed against year-on-year SBTi progress.
We want colleagues to feel empowered in their role and have practical guidance on what they can do day to day, from anywhere in the business, to support our sustainability strategy. "We've been really impressed with how One Earth were keen to understand Barr's specific structure and processes, which elevated the project beyond general manufacturing training. The team were really responsive and receptive to feedback which allowed us to strike a balance between engaging training and content that reflects the importance of the subject matter."
Why hyper-tailored mattered
01
Every module ladders explicitly to AG Barr’s SBTi targets and the strategy behind them. People can see how their day-to-day connects to the bigger picture.
02
23 modules across 7 staff groups. A line operator gets line content. A buyer gets supplier content. A brand lead gets marketing-credibility content. Nobody sits through irrelevant material.
03
IRN-BRU, Rubicon and Funkin show up in the training. Real category dynamics, real consumer narrative, real claim substantiation, not a generic FMCG case study.
04
Designed for what people do differently afterwards: supplier conversations, line-level decisions, credible marketing claims. Completion is the floor; behaviour change is the ceiling.
Book a 30-min walkthrough. We’ll talk through how the AG Barr architecture was built, how it maps to your sustainability strategy, and what a tailored design for your business would look like.
Get in touch with the One Earth Education team!
