A view from Forum for the Future
"Supermarkets have a vital role to play in these difficult economic times. It is crucial that leading retailers embrace sustainability in a recession. Of course, they must make cost savings. But they must also continue to develop products and services that create real value for consumers whilst not damaging the planet. Those that do so will come out of the downturn commercially stronger.
Looking at the Report itself, it highlights how Tesco is trying to tackle the huge number of issues that it faces as one of the world's largest retailers. We welcome its increased international content, as this better reflects Tesco's global reach. Aligning the Report's structure with Tesco's Community Promises makes sense, and we welcome the addition of opinion former feedback ('Others say') as a sign that Tesco is beginning to engage more openly with stakeholders. It is encouraging also to see Tesco talk explicitly about how it is trying to address its indirect impacts.
Tesco has had a number of notable achievements over the past 12 months. We are very encouraged to see Tesco reduce the amount of in-store waste going to landfill by one-third in the space of a year. We welcome Tesco's redefining of what constitutes 'local' and its growing support for local products. The commitment to roll out the blueprint from its Cheetham Hill eco-store across all its other new stores is commendable and we urge Tesco to also retrofit all its existing stores. We are also pleased to see Tesco step up its efforts to educate consumers on the carbon footprints of what they buy. And we support the idea of 'Regeneration Partnerships', offering training and employment for the long-term unemployed.
There is still, however, a lot further to go. We would urge Tesco to use its influence to take a bolder position on issues such as healthy eating. Tesco should be leading the industry on radically reducing salt and sugar in foods. We would encourage Tesco to further improve the nutritional content and sustainability profile of its Value range so that it offers healthy, affordable food to the mainstream. We would also like to see consensus between the major supermarkets on universal nutritional labelling.
On climate change, customers driving to its stores generate a major proportion of Tesco's indirect carbon footprint. We would therefore urge Tesco to provide its customers with low-carbon access to its products and services, and to incorporate this into its eco-store blueprint. We would encourage Tesco to accelerate its carbon labelling roll-out, because the process of understanding the carbon footprint of a product can be a very valuable step in helping to drive emissions out of the supply chain. Tesco should also start to apply relevant lessons it has learned on tackling climate change to tackling embedded water.
If Tesco is to truly 'lead by example' on climate change, it must reduce its own absolute carbon emissions year-on-year. The next big challenge for Tesco is to address how it can grow whilst respecting environmental limits. Humankind is already placing intolerable stress on the planet's resources and its ability to deal with our emissions. As Tesco continues to expand its business, it must simultaneously reduce its environmental impact. It has already shown that it can deliver radical environmental improvements in specific areas. Next it needs to look at the whole picture. To do this, it will have to ask some big questions about what a truly sustainable supermarket looks like, develop some new business models and set - and then achieve - some ambitious global sustainability targets."
Peter Madden
Chief Executive
Dan Crossley
Principal Sustainability Advisor
"Forum for the Future - the sustainable development charity - works in partnership with leading organisations in business and the public sector to create a sustainable future. Forum for the Future is a Registered Charity in the UK (number 1040519). It is not an auditor or a verifier and these comments should not be read as verification of data or information contained within the Report.
Tesco is one of Forum for the Future's Corporate Partners. Through this partnership Tesco makes a direct financial contribution to Forum for the Future. Last year Forum's income from Tesco represented less than 2% of Forum's turnover. The partnership is currently in its eighth year. For more information on Forum for the Future visit www.forumforthefuture.org".
