We are active advocates of the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals. We design our initiatives in synergy with our network of public and private organisations. By thinking locally and acting globally we can focus on the three core elements of sustainable development: Social inclusion, environmental protection, and economic growth.
Our work principally focuses on SDG 11 by contributing to the creation of inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable cities and communities, although we keep the rest of the 17 SDGs in mind as much as applicable in everything we do. If you would like to know more about our sustainability and community impact work, please read our Impact Reports 2017, 2018 and 2019.
At the heart of the MM ethos is community building and we are committed to ensuring that all parts of our community are able to access our markets and activities.
Our starting point is always to understand the priorities of the area in which we operate, the challenges of which are often multi-dimensional and encompass issues linked to health and wellbeing, education, integration of minority groups and children, inclusion of the elderly, employment and upskilling, and reduction of poverty and inequality.
Today’s society is facing an increasingly urgent environmental crisis. Global warming and an increasing loss of biodiversity are threatening our planet, non-renewable energies are still our largest resource and pollution has deteriorated our air, soils and oceans. At the same time, the global population continues to increase, expected to reach approximately nine billion in 2050.
Many initiatives are emerging from these crises, and flourishing, by promoting a responsible approach and attitude to producing and consuming food in a way that lowers our environmental impact, reduces our carbon footprint and focuses on reusing and recycling.
MM strongly believes that we can — together — transform today’s large metropolises into sustainable communities and contribute to food autonomy, through urban renewal, balanced diets and natural crop growth.
You can read about all of our community programmes in our Impact Report.
Launched in 2000, the United Nations Global Compact is a call to companies around the world to align their operations and strategies with 10 universal principles. The principles cover human rights, labour, environment and anti-corruption.
With over 9,500 companies, 70 local networks and 3,000 non-business signatories, the UN Global Compact is the world’s largest corporate sustainability initiative – and MM is now a member. As part of the programme, we support the UN’s principles via our sustainable business practices and file an annual report detailing how. Dowload our latest report here.
The United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development was agreed in September 2015 by 193 countries, and continues the work of the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
At MM we use the UN Sustainability Development Goals as a framework to help us understand how we can make positive differences to our local communities from a city market setting.
At Mercato, we are proud to be accredited by the Living Wage Foundation as an official Living Wage Employer!
Launched in 2001 by the members of London Citizens, the Living Wage campaign, unlike the government minimum wage, independently calculates what employees and their families need to live. Employers voluntarily choose to pay The National Living Wage immediately changing people’s lives including workers over 18 importantly recognising that young people have the same living costs as everyone else.
The campaign for real Living Wage has now delivered more than £1 billion in extra wages to workers since its first launch and it has lifted 200,00 people out of in-work poverty.
Mercato is very proud to be part of this movement, making a real difference to the lives of working people.
From the businesses we incubate to the communities and families we run our programmes for, we believe everyone has a story to tell!
Here you can find stories of MM partners, friends, traders and more!
MM is creating an academy programme, known as The MM Academy’, which will offer tailored development programmes to cohorts of local and international students, employed staff and entrepreneurs in the food & beverage, hospitality, community and sustainability subjects.
The retail education division of the MM Academy will provide students, cooks, chefs and sales professionals an opportunity to practice and improve their skills & trades, while developing hands-on knowledge and experience in important vocational and academic areas, such as international business, food and agricultural. A number of national and international institutions have already pledged their support for the MM Academy.
The MM Academy will be the focal reference point for the MM Trading Company, sourcing and supplying highly-skilled workforce for the development of MM concepts.
If you are interested in knowing more about The MM Academy, please add your email address below:
