Home » UK Business News » Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Waitrose, M&S and Co-op join forces to combat climate change
Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Waitrose, M&S and Co-op join forces to combat climate change
https://www.whatjobs.com/news/united-kingdom/uk-business-news/sainsburys-tesco-waitrose-ms-and-co-op-join-forces-to-combat-climate-change
By Nagasunder in UK Business News, posted November 9, 2022
Five of the UK's largest supermarkets have agreed to collaborate to accelerate their work with suppliers to combat climate change.
The pledge comes as the WWF charity announced a goal to reduce the environmental impact of food shopping by half by 2030.
This is a warning that there is an "urgent need for accelerated action" from the sector, as well as increased support from the UK government.
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This is especially true in areas like agricultural supply chains and the elimination of deforestation in food production.
In response to the report, the CEOs of the Co-op, Marks and Spencer, Sainsbury's, Tesco, and Waitrose announced that they would encourage their suppliers to adopt science-based targets to achieve net-zero climate emissions by 2050.
They have also agreed to collaborate with the charity Waste & Resources Action Programme (Wrap) to create and implement an "ambitious" climate action plan for the grocery retail sector, with the goal of halving their climate emissions by 2030.
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WWF chief executive Tanya Steele said: “Nature is in freefall and we know 60 percent of global biodiversity loss and 30 percent of greenhouse gas emissions are caused by the food system. Shoppers want to know that their purchases are not contributing to the destruction of our planet, so we urge other supermarkets to join the five who have committed to our goal to halve the environmental impact of our food shopping by 2030.
“But beyond words and commitments, we need action to reduce deforestation, nature loss and climate change – both from the retail sector and government. Sustainable food systems must be at the heart of future negotiations on both climate change and biodiversity.”
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A joint statement from the five supermarkets said: “WWF’s findings leave no doubt of the scale of the task we collectively agreed to undertake when it comes to improving our food supply chains and enabling a sustainable shopping experience for our customers. We restate our commitment to work with WWF, our customers, suppliers, and the UK Government to halve the environmental impact of UK shopping baskets by 2030. We believe that this goal is achievable and is vital for the future of nature, our planet, our businesses and, crucially, our customers.”
Richard Swannell, Wrap’s interim chief executive, said: “We welcome this timely and important report and the leadership and commitment shown by accelerating action on climate change – where urgent action is required, and collaboration key to reducing the impact feeding people puts on the planet. Wrap is delighted to work with WWF and the Commitment to Nature signatories, and to scale this action in the sector through the Courtauld Commitment 2030 to support the supply chains we all rely on to set targets, measure and take action on high-impact changes.”
Source: Business Live
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