Cutting Carbon
Cutting carbon 1
Since launching in 2007, we've set about transforming our business to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. By setting ambitious targets and focusing on every store, every truck and every office, we've managed to cut our carbon footprint even while the business has grown.
So how did we reduce our carbon emissions? We've achieved this by being scrupulous about monitoring our energy use; giving each of our stores individual targets to achieve; pioneering new technologies like our groundbreaking fridges and investing in new equipment in our stores and offices; from air conditioning units to fuel efficient, aerodynamic teardrop-shaped truck trailers. In our UK and Republic of Ireland operations these actions have saved over 160,000 tonnes of CO2 a year.
Cutting carbon 2
Inevitably, a business the size of M&S will always have some carbon
emissions. To achieve our goal of becoming carbon neutral, we've been sourcing supplies of renewable electricity and high quality carbon offsets to balance these out. In order to count towards our carbon neutrality, offset projects must be certified as leading to carbon savings that wouldn't have happened if the offsets hadn't been purchased. You can read all about them here.
From April 2013 we extended carbon neutrality to include all M&S operated and joint venture stores, offices, warehouses and delivery fleets worldwide.
Cutting carbon 3
Our responsibilities don't stop there though. As a retailer, we can be carbon neutral, but the products we make have their own, much larger footprint, which includes everything from the tractor on the farm where our fruit and veg are grown, to a customer using their washer-dryer to launder M&S clothes. To help mitigate this footprint as much as we can, we go out of our way to share our carbon-cutting expertise with our suppliers, via our Supplier Exchange programme. We've also set up eco factories around the world.
We want to help our customers cut carbon too - especially when it comes to consuming and disposing of M&S products - so we've launched initiatives like our Wash At 30 campaign, and rewritten the advice on food packaging to help consumers reduce food waste.
Climate change is a big and complex problem. We believe that we'll only solve it if we all - M&S, our customers and our suppliers - work together. Becoming the UK's first major carbon neutral retailer seems like a good start.