Tesco is demanding green stores are given extra benefits and consideration as the push for environment-friendly building becomes increasingly difficult economically.
The supermarket giant is calling for tax incentives and fast-track planning permission for green stores and wants the government to cut business rates for environmentally friendly stores and speed them through the planning system.
The group said that a fifth of its planning applications to build wind turbines at stores had been either rejected or delayed.
Lucy Neville-Rolfe, Tesco’s corporate affairs director, said: “Green stores should be given a fast track not a slow track through the planning system.”
The company opened its first new green store in Cheetham Hill, Manchester this week, which has a carbon footprint 70 per cent smaller than an equivalent store built in 2006.
The store uses a combination of energy-efficiency measures, natural refrigeration and using natural sustainable fuel in a combined cooling, heat and power plant to reduce its emissions.
The new stores are part of a package of green initiatives, including cutting carrier-bag usage, launched by Tesco.
