Tesco boss Sir Terry Leahy has put his weight behind turning green consumption into a mass movement, saying the company will be giving the public information as to the carbon footprints of the products they buy. The comments came at the Green City Initiative.
“By harnessing the buying power of millions of consumers, we can drive change throughout the economy,” he announced, “Go with the grain of human nature - it is a far more powerful tool than regulation alone.”
He also spoke of how the company was transforming its business model, to move towards a smaller carbon footprint, “so that it becomes a central driver of our business and not some PR add-on.”
He said the watchwords for Tesco in activating the ‘green revolution’ are ‘information, opportunity and incentive’.
“We know from our experience with organic food that people will make greener choices given information, opportunity and incentives. Sales are up a phenomenal 39% year-on-year.”
The company’s information-laden packaging is also spurring changes in consumer demand. “We are experiencing extraordinary changes in buying behaviour, which in turn are driving innovation through the industry. Sales of goods high in salt or fat are plummeting. Sales of lower-fat or lower-salt alternatives are soaring.”
As to labelling carbon costs, he said: “We have started the quest for a universally accepted and commonly understood measure of the carbon footprint of every product we sell - looking at its complete life-cycle from production, through distribution to consumption. It’s a complicated task, but the goal is simple. I want us to come up with a clear system of labelling so that in future customers will be able to compare a product’s carbon footprint just as easily as they can currently compare its price or nutritional value.”
But he also spoke of the need to balance ‘fair miles’ against ‘air miles’, admitting there would be ‘hard choices’.
“We all know that transporting a product by air creates far higher carbon emissions than any other form of transport. So we could say, ‘let’s scrap all imports by air’. Yet some of the poorest people on earth get their goods to market by aeroplane.
“Take markets closer to home. We all want to support British farming - politicians and retailers alike have been busy encouraging farmers to extend their growing seasons by growing fruit in greenhouses.
While that might be good for local British produce, it is not so good for Tesco’s carbon footprint, Leahy said, where it might well be better environmentally to import fruit grown out in the open in a sunnier climate.
“But the bottom line is this: with a simple label that shows a product’s carbon footprint at a glance, millions of consumers will have the information to make those choices and judgements for themselves.”
He says the company will also be publishing its own carbon footprint. Tesco have been trying out wind turbines, testing straw-fired generation, investing in a new biodiesel plant, and developing a gasification solution that will turn food waste into clean, sustainable power.
