Reducing our environmental impact
Tesco aim to play a leadership role in tackling climate change. Evolving scientific evidence tells us that we need to move ever more quickly to reduce emissions. Despite the recession, customers want to be green and expect us to be too.
We have set ambitious targets to reduce our own footprint, reduce the emissions from our supply chain, and help our customers to reduce their footprints too.
We aim to be a carbon neutral business by 2050.
Climate change programme
Tesco employs 492,714 people around the world, and many more people work in firms and businesses supplying our stores and offices. Our aim is to mobilise collective action among customers, suppliers and employees, to help protect the environment, and generate a mass movement in green consumption.
Our climate change programme has three main parts:
- Leading by example - reducing our own direct carbon footprint
- Working with our supply chains and partners to reduce emissions more broadly
- Leading a revolution in green consumption
Progress so far:
- All of our offices are built to high environmental standards, using features such as automatic lighting which senses when areas of the building are unoccupied and switches off, energy efficient thermal insulation and making the most of natural light.
- All of our waste is recycled, composted or incinerated for energy, ensuring that virtually nothing goes to landfill.
- Use of printing paper is being kept to a minimum as all printers are defaulted to double-sided printing and the 'follow me' printing initiative encourages staff to print only what is essential
- The telepresence and increase in video conferencing facilities has given us greater opportunities to reduce travel
breeam (BRE Environmental Assessment Method) is the leading and most widely used environmental assessment method for buildings. It sets the standard for best practice in sustainable design and has become the de facto measure used to describe a building’s environmental performance.