Environment

Hallmarks of a leader in the environment

  • The organisation is committed to, and understands the implications of, operating within environmental limits. It has absolute targets for key environmental impacts that are at least aligned to, or go further than, current government policy.
  • There is a stretching climate change strategy in place that drives performance in all parts of the organisation.
  • Systems are in place to identify, understand and manage future environmental risks and opportunities, including climate change. The organisation is able to demonstrate real progress as a result of these systems and processes.
  • The organisation is committed to internalising the business’s environmental costs, currently paid for by society as a whole.
  • The environmental commitment of the company affects the whole business, including who the organisation goes into partnership or is otherwise associated with.
  • The organisation’s environmental efforts address the whole product or service lifecycle, including indirect impacts.

Case studies


Good Energy’s vision is of a safe, energy-efficient, low-carbon world, in which everyone – including future generations – has a better quality of life. In 1999, the company was set up to give people the power to combat climate change by switching their home or business to 100% renewable electricity. It also works to raise awareness and help customers reduce energy consumption.
 
Good Energy’s energy is generated solely from sustainable sources guaranteed by an independent auditor. Its portfolio of products includes a pioneering ‘Home Generation Scheme’ that pays customers 9p for every unit (kWh) of renewable electricity produced (and used) by home installations. The scheme is designed to reward and support homeowners who have installed renewable energy generators, such as solar panels and micro turbines.
 
Good Energy is actively trying to help make government targets to generate 40% of the UK’s energy from renewable sources by 2050 a reality.

Terry Leahy, chief Executive of Tesco, says he is “determined that Tesco should be a leader in helping to create a low-carbon economy”. He has set some ambitious targets, including to halve emissions from existing stores and distribution centres worldwide by 2020. Tesco uses an independent organisation – ERM – to measure its direct carbon footprint and it publishes the results.

 In order to deliver the reductions, it is tackling refrigeration and distribution and building greener stores. It set up a £100m Sustainable Technology Fund to support large-scale carbon reduction technologies and has funded a £25m Sustainable Consumption Institute at Manchester University to think about how supermarkets can be more sustainable. Tesco is giving priority to empowering all customers –not just the affluent ones – to take action on climate change. It has pioneered carbon labelling and is now piloting the first twenty products. It has made green products more affordable: in 2007 it permanently halved the price of energy efficient light bulbs and doubled the space in store for them, quadrupling sales, and it aims to sell ten million energy efficient lightbulbs in one year.

It gives Green Clubcard points to reward environmental behaviours by customers – such as reusing plastic bags or recycling - and is now launching an affordable Greener Living brand for products that are environmentally friendly and energy efficient.


Purple Goes Green is Cadbury’s environment initiative. The confectionery company made a public commitment in 2007 to significantly reduce the environmental impact of its operations and transform its manufacturing processes as well as its assets.
 
The first brand in the food-manufacturing sector to declare absolute targets for carbon emissions reduction, Cadbury will halve its net CO2 emissions by 2020. It aims to improve the energy efficiency of its manufacturing processes and to buy an increasing proportion of its energy from renewable sources.
 
On the same timescale it will ensure that all of its facilities in designated ’water-scarce’ regions will implement stringent water-use reduction programmes. In some cases it will use water catchment to transform thirsty manufacturing plants into net water generators.
 
The company has also put in place short term goals for reducing the volume and impact of its packaging and outlined a ceiling for product-packaging ratio. The company will aim for a 10% reduction in standard packaging and a 25% reduction in seasonal packaging by 2010. It has also committed to making 60% of packaging biodegradable 100% of secondary packaging recyclable, and to source all paperboard packaging from sustainable forests by 2010.
 
In addition to making its own commitments, the company is looking to forge alliances, positively influence others within its value chain to tackle climate change and unite the food manufacturing sector under a common sustainability agenda.

For Interface Inc, a leading manufacturer of modular flooring, sustainability is business-as-usual and has been thoroughly integrated throughout the company. Interface's vision, Mission Zero, aims to eliminate any negative impact the company may have on the environment by 2020.

The company works towards the vision on seven fronts, based on The Natural Step Framework:

  • Eliminate Waste: Eliminating all forms of waste in every area of business;
  • Benign Emissions: Eliminating toxic substances from products, vehicles and facilities;
  • Renewable Energy: Operating facilities with renewable energy sources – solar, wind, landfill gas, biomass, geothermal, tidal and low impact/small scale hydroelectric or non-petroleum-based hydrogen;
  • Closing the Loop: Redesigning processes and products to close the technical loop using recovered and bio-based materials;
  • Resource-Efficient Transportation: Transporting people and products efficiently to reduce waste and emissions;
  • Sensitizing Stakeholders: Creating a culture that integrates sustainability principles and improves people’s lives and livelihoods;
  • Redesign Commerce: Creating a new business model that demonstrates and supports the value of sustainability-based commerce;

Since 1996 Interface has:
reduced waste from manufacturing to landfill by 75%;
reduced Net Greenhouse Gas Emissions on a net absolute basis by 82%;
reduced the total energy consumption per unit of output by 45%;
achieved 100% renewable electricity supply for manufacturing in Europe;
achieved to source 27% of its global energy consumption from renewables; and
reduced its global water usage by 75%.

Interface has a holistic approach to sustainability and understands that it is more than simply being 'environmentally friendly'. 

The company employs a number of different models and systems to tackle the broad range of issues sustainability encompasses, helping them understand how a business interacts with these complex and sensitive areas.


PepsiCo, in collaboration with the Carbon Trust, became the first company in the world to launch an on-pack carbon label, on packets of Walkers Crisps. The label details the quantity of greenhouse gases emitted (expressed as carbon equivalents) during the production and manufacturing process, Its real value, though, lies in taking the embedded carbon debate to the consumer. It signals to consumers not only that the company has measured the carbon footprint of a popular product, but also that it has committed to reducing the embedded carbon of that product within two years.

Boots has similarly worked with the Carbon Trust to evaluate the carbon footprint of its Botanics shampoo. Analysis of the lifecycle of this shampoo revealed that 93 per cent of its carbon footprint came from consumer use, through water heating and consumption. As a result, Boots trialled point of sale material to advise consumers on how they can reduce their personal carbon footprints. Importantly, a Boots survey showed that having had the label explained to them, the vast majority of consumers felt that they could take some personal responsibility for reducing their carbon footprint.

Tesco’s work with the Carbon Trust has led to carbon labelling on all own-brand products across four product ranges: potatoes, orange juice, light bulbs and washing detergent. Enabling shoppers to compare carbon impacts of like-for-like products for the first time, some labels also offer tips on how to reduce a product's footprint when you cook it, use it or dispose of it.

Through the information gathered in the carbon footprinting process, PepsiCo, Boots and Tesco have been able to pinpoint the biggest climate-related impacts within the supply chain of these products. This information has enabled them to make tangible energy savings and to begin to work with suppliers to further reduce emissions.

There are challenges. The initial cost of calculating embedded carbon in a single product was high. But such costs will fall as more products are assessed and the methodology is streamlined. Communicating to the consumer on these issues is a relatively recent development, but Walkers' consumer insight suggests the label has helped to increase awareness of both the impact of the products that people buy, and the carbon footprint of everyday food .


The relentless pursuit of efficiencies in the retail supply chain and increasing centralisation of warehousing has resulted in a complex structure of national and regional production and distribution centres across the UK. Against this backdrop it is not uncommon for trucks to make empty journeys back to the warehouse following a series of deliveries.

IGD, a cross-industry forum, has been working to reduce these ‘empty’ miles through its Efficient Consumer Response initiative designed to drive collaborative distribution practices, resulting in its members setting a voluntary target of removing 50m miles across 2007/8. This initiative brought together suppliers and retailers that had a good geographical fit in terms of distribution, despite often having no previous commercial relationship.

Initial meetings, based on a ‘speed-dating’ model, allowed participants to identify those organisations with synergies in transport networks with which to explore future partnership opportunities.Aligning distribution networks requires high levels of trust between partnering organisations, which must overcome procedural, physical, health and safety obstacles. In spite of the difficulties, this approach has managed to identify opportunities resulting in a potential reduction of two million miles a year through maximising efficiencies. 

Through just one identified collaboration between Tesco and Unilever, over half a million ‘empty’ miles have been avoided.  One example of this partnership is the transport collaboration between Unilever Doncaster Distribution Centre and Tesco Goole Distribution Centre. Health & Beauty brands such as Dove, Lynx and Sure were previously delivered directly by Unilever to Tesco. Now, returning Tesco vehicles pass through Doncaster and pick up the products for delivery into Goole. Both organisations needed to overcome procedural barriers, but have ultimately realised both environmental and financial benefits.