Five of the UK’s biggest supermarket chains have promised to reduce the environmental impact of a weekly food shop by half, by the end of the decade.
Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Waitrose, Co-op and Marks & Spencer (M&S) have released a joint statement that details their plans for making their businesses more sustainable. It said: ‘As CEOs of leading UK food retailers, we recognise that a future without nature is a future without food. By 2030 we need to halt the loss of nature.’
Within the statement, the supermarkets have pledged to work with the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) to halve:
- The food waste they produce
- The environmental impact of the agriculture and seafood in shoppers’ baskets
- The forests that are cut down to create produce
- The amount of global warming that their products cause.
According to WWF, the food sector accounts for around 30% of total greenhouse gas emissions and 60% of the lost nature around the world.
Game changing
WWF chief executive Tanya Steele said: “Food production is one of the biggest threats to our planet and we will only tackle the climate and nature emergency if food retailers play their part.”
Steele said meeting a global warming target of less than 1.5C above pre-industrial times “will be impossible” without major changes to the food supply chain.
She added: “The promises these CEOs have made are game changing and we hope other food retailers will follow in their footsteps so that every shopper can be confident that the products they buy aren’t fuelling the climate crisis and pushing precious wildlife closer to the brink.”
