A string of household-name retailers are launching a new, industry-wide environmental commitment to battling climate change.
It is the first time the retail sector has clubbed together to build such a comprehensive set of pledges.
The commitments - that have been endorsed by supermarkets Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda, Marks & Spencer, Waitrose, Somerfield and The Co-operative, along with other high-street names - will be announced this evening by British Retail Consortium (BRC) director general Stephen Robertson at the BRC annual parliamentary reception, in partnership with Shopwatch.
Robertson will be speaking in front of the environment secretary Hilary Benn and an audience of politicians and senior retailers at the House of Commons.
Robertson will say: “By agreeing industry-wide goals for the next five years, retail is ratcheting up its environmental commitments.
“We recognise we can make a real difference through our own operations and by supporting customers and staff in ways that suit their budgets and lifestyles. Retailers do not lecture or legislate, preach or prosecute. We serve and lead by providing positive choices and, wherever we can, incentives to do the right thing.”
The retailers’ commitments include: reducing the direct environmental impact of their businesses - cutting emissions from building and vehicles, cutting water use and reducing waste to landfill; managing their climate change risks; and helping customers and staff reduce their environmental impact.
Some retailers have already committed to more demanding targets than those being announced today, but for others it is an early step in an important field. The BRC believes that by making a collective statement, the total gain will be grater, and an important signal is being sent to other businesses, politicians and customers.
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