Supermarket chain Sainsbury's today unveiled a £1 billion ($1.6 bn) sustainability plan, including a pledge to reduce operational carbon emissions by 30 per cent absolute and 65 per cent relative, compared with 2005.
The U.K. chain’s 20 by 20 Sustainability Plan sets out 20 sustainability targets to be achieved by 2020. The commitments address four key areas of focus: sustainable and healthy products, operational excellence, colleagues and communities.
The plan won praise from prime minister David Cameron.
Under one commitment, Sainsbury's pledges to double the amount of British food it sells. The company says it is already an industry leader in this field, spending over £4 billion each year with its UK suppliers.
Sainsbury's says it is also the world's largest Fairtrade retailer, and the largest retailer of MSC certified fish and RSPCA Freedom Food certified products.
The environmental commitments in full are:
Sustainable and healthy products
1. We'll source all of our key raw materials and commodities sustainably to an independent standard.
2. Our own brand products won't contribute to global deforestation.
3. All the fish we sell will be independently certified as sustainable and we'll strengthen our position as the leading retailer for sustainable seafood.
4. Through robust water stewardship, we'll ensure that our supply chain approach is sustainable in areas of water vulnerability.
5. Our sales of fairly traded products will hit £1 billion.
6. We'll double the amount of British food we sell.
7. All our meat, poultry, eggs, game and dairy products will be sourced from suppliers who adhere to independent higher welfare standards.
8. Our suppliers will also be leaders in meeting or exceeding our social and environmental standards.
9. We'll continue to reduce salt, saturated fat, fat and sugar in our own brand products and we will lead on providing clear nutritional information, enabling our customers to make informed choices.
10. We'll double the sales of lighter alcohol wine and reduce the average alcohol content (ABV) of own brand wine and beer.
Operational Excellence
11. We'll put all waste to positive use.
12. We'll make sure that our own packaging has been reduced by a half compared to 2005.
13. We'll have reduced our operational carbon emissions by 30 per cent absolute and 65 per cent relative, compared with 2005.
14. We'll have worked with our own brand suppliers to reduce carbon emissions across all of our own brand products by 50 per cent relative.
