Climate change

Progress 2007 cont...

Empowering our customers

Our plan for mobilising our customers to make low-carbon choices in their purchasing and lifestyles is the most ambitious part of our overall carbon strategy. It is particularly important because domestic consumers have the potential to influence a significant proportion of carbon emissions (60% of the total in the UK - see chart).

Consumers want to play their part, but need our help. They tell us that the key barriers to greater action are: a concern that being green is more expensive; a lack of information about what can make a difference; and the sense that individual action has no real impact in the face of a global threat.

Consumer influence over UK carbon emissions

Progress with product carbon footprints and carbon labelling

Working with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), the British Standards Institute and the Carbon Trust we have been testing a new, simple, publicly available methodology (the Publicly Available Specification (PAS)) for carbon footprint measurement.

We have tested the current draft PAS on a range of Tesco products in the UK, looking at the complete lifecycle from production through distribution to consumption. This is a specialist activity and we have partnered with an appropriate consultancy, ERM, to make the first assessments.

We have measured the carbon footprints of 30 products within the following five categories:

• potatoes;
• tomatoes;
• light bulbs;
• laundry detergents; and
• orange juice.

Having completed the assessment work, we are currently working with the Carbon Trust on how best to communicate carbon information to customers. We are piloting the Carbon Trust's carbon reduction label in a UK in-store trial on 20 products in four of the categories above (we are not labelling tomatoes because the product lines we measured in autumn/winter 2007 are now out of season). Armed with this information customers will be able to make informed choices that influence their carbon footprint.

The trial is supported by an easy-to-read leaflet to explain the connection between carbon and climate change to our customers and to show how we can all take some simple steps to reduce our carbon footprint.

We continued to use our 'By Air' sticker in the UK to identify airfreighted products and have achieved our target of limiting airfreighted produce to under 1% of the products we sell, with a bias towards products from developing countries.

Progress with making green products easily affordable

In the UK in 2007 we permanently halved the price of energy-efficient light bulbs and doubled the space in-store for them, quadrupling sales. We set a target to sell ten million this year as part of the "Together" climate change campaign and are on track to achieve this. In early 2008 we ran a hugely successful promotion selling over one million energy-efficient lightbulbs for 1p each.

In the UK, we have extended our range of energy-efficient products and are now developing a Tesco Greener Living brand for products with a low environmental impact. The brand will be affordably priced and launches in spring 2008.

We held two green promotions: one in October 2007, to coincide with Energy Saving Week, and one in January 2008. They covered a wide range of products that help customers reduce their environmental impact, such as recycling bins, energy-reducing electrical sockets, wormeries, water savers, home insulation and fleece jackets made from recycled plastic bottles.

Our new Greener Living website provides advice on how to live a greener life at home, in the garden, while travelling, at work and as a parent. In our May Clubcard statement we sent all UK customers a 'Little steps to being green' leaflet.

KPI	2007/8
Carbon footprint	To reduce CO2e emissions from our existing stores and distribution centres by 5.5% in the UK as part of our long-term commitment to make a 50% reduction worldwide by 2020.
Vehicle efficiency	To reduce the amount of CO2 used in our distribution network per case delivered by 8% in the UK as part of our long-term target to make a 50% reduction worldwide by 2012.
Water consumption	To reduce water consumption per square metre by 5%, as part of our long-term commitment to reduce water consumption by 15% between 2006 and 2009.
Airfreight	To restrict air transport to fewer than 1% of our products.
Below target Close to target On target Above target	View the complete KPI table