Five major UK food retailers have agreed to join forces to accelerate climate action through their supply chains, as a new WWF report finds that value chains account for up to 90% of supermarket greenhouse gas emissions. The report highlights a long road ahead for the retail sector to halve the environmental impact of UK shopping baskets.
The report, What’s in store for the planet: the impact of the UK shopping basket on climate and nature 2022, published today [Tuesday 8th November], provides one picture of the environmental impacts associated with the food retail sector to date. This report, the first of its kind, puts retailer action on climate and nature under the spotlight one year on since the 2021 climate commitments made by retailers at COP26.
The report contains data across seven key areas: climate, deforestation and conversion of habitat, agriculture, marine, diets, food waste and packaging. With data provided by nine of the 11 major UK supermarkets, the report covers 80% of the sector.
Food retailers are taking action to agree standards and reduce their environmental impact, and there are areas where supermarkets have demonstrated clear progress – such as cutting down on packaging and waste. However, WWF warns there is still an urgent need for accelerated action from the sector as a whole and greater support from the UK Government, especially in areas like agricultural supply chains.
The report looks at the level of ambition required to halve the food retail sector’s impact on climate change and nature. As well as providing data on emissions, it shows that while 62% of palm oil, found in supermarket products such as margarine and cakes and mainly sourced from Asia, is reported as deforestation and conversion free, only 6% of soy, found in products as animal feed in chicken and pork and mainly sourced from South America, is certified as ‘verified deforestation free’.
WWF says urgent action is needed from both the UK Government and food retail sector, including removing deforestation from our food production.
In response to the report, the CEOs of Co-op, Marks and Spencer, Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Waitrose also announced today [Tuesday 8th November] that they will increase their work on tackling climate change in the coming year and will:
- support their suppliers to adopt science-based targets to reach net-zero climate emissions by 2050
- work with WRAP to support their suppliers to set these targets, take high-impact actions and report data
- work with WRAP to develop and deliver an ambitious climate action programme for the grocery retail sector, focussing on high-impact actions to halve their climate emissions, by 2030.
In a joint statement, Shirine Khoury-Haq, CEO of Co-op Group, Stuart Machin, CEO M&S, Simon Roberts, Sainsbury’s CEO, Ken Murphy, Tesco CEO and James Bailey, Waitrose’s executive director 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.”
Tanya Steele, WWF’s CEO 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. This report gives us the benchmarks to paint a picture of the environmental impact of most of the UK food retail sector. You can only change what you can measure, so we welcome the transparency from the supermarkets that shared their environmental data with WWF.
“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. Food should be a cross-government priority – and a global one too. Sustainable food systems must be at the heart of future negotiations on both climate change and biodiversity.”
As part of the acceleration of climate action announced, the supermarkets are working, with WWF and WRAP the climate action NGO, through the Courtauld 2030 framework, to set targets and help their suppliers set targets and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Richard Swannell, WRAP’s Interim CEO 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.”
Reducing climate emissions from land use and agriculture in ways that also help to restore nature poses particular challenges to achieving the overall ambition of the WWF Basket and is an area that requires close cooperation between retailers, farmers and the UK Government. The five supermarkets have agreed to work with WWF to call for the introduction of an Agriculture and Land Use Emissions Reduction Strategy in 2023. The report also says a comprehensive strategy is urgently needed to ensure clarity for farmers and the food sector as a whole.
