[wordup] Marks & Spencer planning to become carbon neutral by 2012

[Adam Shand]

This is great, even if it's just lip service, this is an incredible
statement. It will be very interesting to follow this ...

Adam.

Via:
http://www.celsias.com/blog/2007/01/15/marks-spencer-aim-for-carbon-neutrality/
Source:
http://www2.marksandspencer.com/thecompany/mediacentre/pressreleases/2007/com2007-01-15-00.shtml

15 January 2007
Marks & Spencer launches "Plan A"- £200m 'eco-plan'

Marks & Spencer announces "Plan A", a business-wide £200m "eco-plan"
which will have an impact on every part of M&S' operations over the next
five years. The 100-point plan means that by 2012 M&S will:

    * become carbon neutral
    * send no waste to landfill
    * extend sustainable sourcing
    * set new standards in ethical trading
    * help customers and employees live a healthier lifestyle.

M&S Chief Executive, Stuart Rose said:

"Every business and individual needs to do their bit to tackle the
enormous challenges of climate change and waste. While M&S will continue
to sell great quality, stylish and innovative products, our customers,
employees and shareholders now expect us to take bold steps and do
business differently and responsibly. We believe a responsible business
can be a profitable business. We are calling this "Plan A" because there
is no 'plan B'.

"M&S will change beyond recognition the way it operates over the next
five years. We will become carbon neutral, only using offsetting as a
last resort; we will ensure that none of our clothing or packaging needs
to be thrown away; much of our polyester clothing will be made from
recycled plastic bottles instead of oil and every year we will sell over
20 million garments made from Fairtrade cotton.

"We will clearly label the food we import by air; UK, regional and local
food sourcing will be a priority and we will trial the use of food waste
to power our stores. We will do this without passing on the extra cost
to our customers."

"We will also help our suppliers and customers to change their
behaviour. Because we are own-brand our influence extends to over 2,000
factories, 10,000 farms and 250,000 workers, as well as millions of
customers visiting over 500 stores in the UK."

"This is a deliberately ambitious and, in some areas, difficult plan. We
don't have all the answers but we are determined to work with our
suppliers, partners and Government to make this happen. Doing anything
less is not an option."

Jonathon Porritt, Founder Director of Forum for the Future, who has
advised M&S on "Plan A", said:

"This plan sets a new benchmark in the way businesses should be tackling
critical sustainability challenges like waste, fairtrade and climate
change. It raises the bar for everyone else - not just retailers, but
businesses in every sector. We all know that even at the end of these 5
years there will still be a huge amount for M&S to do but we warmly
welcome the scale of the ambition of this plan in particular the
commitment to include customers and suppliers."

Blake Lee-Harwood, Campaign Director, Greenpeace UK said:

"We're glad a company like M&S has proposals that begin to match the
scale of the challenge of climate change and protecting our oceans and
forests. If every retailer in Britain followed Marks & Spencer's lead it
would be a major step forward in meeting the challenge of creating a
sustainable society."

Robert Napier, Chief Executive, WWF-UK said:

"Research clearly shows us that agricultural activities and other food
production and distribution have some of the greatest impacts upon our
environment. It is vital that we all find ways to achieve a One Planet
lifestyle. Such bold aspirations as outlined by Marks & Spencer can only
help drive other supermarkets and the retail sector towards supplying
products in a way that protects our planet and sustains the natural
resources we depend upon."

The 100-point Plan A includes commitments in five areas:

1. CLIMATE CHANGE - making our operations in UK and Republic of Ireland
carbon neutral. We will minimise energy use, maximise the use of
renewables and use offsetting as a last resort. This will be equivalent
to taking 100,000 cars off the road each year and will mean we meet the
challenge set by the Stern Review of reducing CO2 emissions by 80%,
nearly 40 years ahead of target. As a significant amount of emissions
come from our suppliers and customers making and using our products, we
will also mobilise them to reduce their carbon footprint. Our commitment
includes:

    * Reducing the amount of energy we use to make ourselves 25% more
energy efficient and powering our stores with 'green' renewable energy.
This will include trialling the use of 'anaerobic digestion' - to create
renewable energy generated by waste from our food halls, farms and factories
    * Committing to buy as much food from the UK and Ireland as
possible, double regional food sourcing within 12 months and grow our
existing local supply networks. In addition, we will minimise the amount
of food we air freight as well as labelling the food we import by air as
'flown'
    * Initiating 5 new research and development projects with our UK
growers to develop production techniques and varieties to reduce the
amount of food we import
    * Only using carbon offsetting as a last resort, where there is no
short to medium term prospect of green technology being developed. Where
we use offsetting, we will allocate the cost of doing so to individual
business units, as a commercial incentive to minimise CO2 emissions
    * Opening a model 'green' factory with a supplier, as well as model
'green' stores in Pollok, Bournemouth and Liverpool and a Simply Food
'green' store at Galashiels.
    * Using 50% bio-diesel in all our lorries
    * Working with suppliers through the M&S Supplier Exchange to share
best practice and to mobilise suppliers to reduce their carbon emissions
    * Helping customers reduce energy use in their homes by developing
low carbon products and services and running a Carbon Challenge with the
Women's Institute as well as a campaign run by the Climate Group.

2. WASTE - stop sending waste to landfill from our stores, offices and
warehouses, reduce our use of packaging and carrier bags, and find new
ways to recycle and reuse the materials we use. Our commitment includes:

    * Reducing our use of packaging by 25%
    * Stop sending food waste to landfill and use it to generate green
energy from our stores, via anaerobic digestion
    * Recycling all waste from our store remodel and construction
programme and stop sending it to landfill
    * Using packaging materials from sustainable or recycled sources,
for example cardboard, metal, glass and plastic
    * Restricting the range of materials we use in packaging to ones
which are easy to recycle or compost, so customers do not have to throw
rubbish away. This will include focusing on using four types of plastic
(corn starch derived plastic PLA, PP, PET and PE)
    * Printing simple symbols on all our packaging, to make it easy for
customers to recycle or compost waste
    * Reducing our use of carrier bags by 33% and making all our plastic
bags from recycled plastic
    * Trialling 'closed loop' recycling in six of our Café Revives,
where used packaging can be recycled into M&S product packaging. We aim
to roll this out across our 450+ Café Revives and staff restaurants
    * Ensuring that, within 5 years, no M&S clothing needs to end up in
landfill by finding alternatives to disposal such as reusing, composting
and recycling.

3. RAW MATERIALS - ensuring that our key raw materials come from the
most sustainable source possible, in order to protect the environment
and the world's natural resources. Our commitment includes:

    * Using only wood which is recycled or certified as coming from a
sustainable source by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) or equivalent
standard where FSC wood is not available. This will include wood used
in: furniture, books, cards, packaging, catalogues, kitchen/toilet roll,
printer/photocopier paper and marketing materials. This adds to the 80
million sandwich packs we sell each year made from cardboard from FSC
certified sources and the A grade rating we received from Greenpeace for
our garden furniture in 2006
    * Converting all our fresh turkey, geese, duck and pork to Free
Range, building on our industry leading position of only using Free
Range shell eggs and eggs used as an ingredient
    * Selling only fish which is certified by the Marine Stewardship
Council (MSC) or another independently certified source, adding to the
steps we have already taken and building on our position as Greenpeace's
no.1 responsible fish retailer
    * Using recycled plastic (e.g. bottles) not oil, to make polyester
for clothing and home products
    * Tripling our sales of organic food and launching organic cotton,
linen and wool
    * Ensuring our produce and livestock farmers meet an independent
environmental standard such as LEAF or FWAG
    * Reducing the water use in stores, offices and distribution centres
by 20% and working with suppliers via the Supplier Exchange to reduce
water use during the growing, production and manufacture of our products.

4. FAIR PARTNER - improving the lives of hundreds of thousands of people
in our supply chain and our local communities. Our commitment includes:

    * Being a leader in managing labour standards in our supply chain,
building on our existing global standards and robust monitoring programme
    * Converting key clothing ranges to 100% Fairtrade cotton, including
all our £5 women's and men's t-shirts and around 12 million garments in
total. Over the next twelve months this will rise to 20 million
garments, as we add in new ranges of men's shirts, and lingerie vests.
This equates to around one third of the world's supply of Fairtrade
cotton in 2006
    * Building on the success of Fairtrade coffee and tea by offering
Fairtrade bananas, jam and bagged sugar and moving into other vulnerable
supply chains like those for sugar cane and cocoa used across our food range
    * Working with farmers to extend our existing industry leading Milk
Pledge pricing scheme into new farming sectors
    * Launching the M&S Supplier Exchange to support our suppliers - by
sharing best practice, stimulating innovation and helping them secure
funds for investment
    * Helping disadvantaged groups like the disabled and homeless get
into jobs through work placements in the UK (600 adults per year) and
overseas (150 adults per year) through the Marks & Start programme

5. HEALTHY EATING - helping thousands of customers and employees choose
a healthier lifestyle. We will build on the work we have already done,
removing HVOs from all our food and removing artificial colours,
flavours and all unnecessary preservatives from all fresh prepared food.
We are also introducing Food Standards Agency Traffic Lights and
Guideline Daily Allowance (GDA) product labelling. Our commitments include:

    * Introducing 1,500 Healthy Eating Assistants in our stores and
extending the same training, developed in collaboration with the British
Nutrition Foundation, to all staff in food halls within 3 years
    * Aiming to increase the amount of "Eat Well" nutritionally balanced
food we sell from 30% to 50% of food sales
    * Continuing to lead the sector in reducing the use of salt to meet
and exceed 2010 FSA targets having already achieved these targets for
ready meals, bread and breakfast cereals
    * Replacing artificial colours with natural colours in kids' sweets
and cakes in 12 months
    * Helping our employees to live healthy lifestyles by launching a
M&S Health and Lifestyle Information Intranet, providing them with
advice and maintaining free breast screening for female employees over 40.

-ENDS-

For further information:

Clare Wilkes Marks & Spencer 0208 718 8642 / 07831 829891
Clair Foster Marks & Spencer 0208 718 8323 / 07748 147851
Olivia Ross Marks & Spencer 0208 718 1618/07795 968 641

    * www.marksandspencer.com