Tesco and Marks & Spencer have been singled out for special praise in the Carbon Trust’s annual report, which detailed its work in cutting 10.8 million tonnes of carbon emissions among UK businesses.
The trust’s figures reveal that 40 per cent of the UK’s carbon emissions are accounted for by businesses. The organisation believes up to a quarter of that can be saved, and that cutting emissions need not be purely a PR exercise - in a world of high energy prices, companies can save money by reducing their carbon output.
This, the report argues, was the driving force behind M&S’s Plan A, a £200 million commitment to green initiatives, including a target to become carbon neutral within five years, which was announced earlier this year.
“M&S was one of the first big retailers to take action on carbon,” the report said. “It has seen significant reductions. Each square foot of sales space generated 45 per cent less CO2 in 2006 than it did in 2002. The value to the M&S brand is less easily quantified, but the sheer scale of Plan A suggests the board believes there is a lot to be gained.”
Tesco has also enlisted the trust’s help in reducing carbon emissions. The retailer recently won an Online Green Award for its adoption of zero-emission vans for deliveries.
In the last year, UK businesses and public sector organisations achieved carbon cuts of between 4.6mt and 5.4mt, and Carbon Trust chief executive Tom Delay said pilot schemes implemented by the retail sector have been pivotal in that success.
“There is now a clear sense that carbon reduction is not a short-term trend. It is an identifiable market with its own fast developing imperatives,” said Delay. “Organisations such as Tesco and M&S want to move quickly and have already developed comprehensive approaches.”
High-street chemist Boots was also highlighted in the report for its carbon-cutting success.
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