Sainsbury’s commits £1 billion to become net zero by 2040

Sainsbury’s has today committed to invested £1 billion over twenty years towards becoming a Net Zero business across its own operations by 2040, aligned to the highest ambitions of the Paris Climate Change Agreement and a decade ahead of the UK Government’s own target.

The retailers current carbon footprint is one million tonnes, which is a 35 per cent absolute reduction in the last 15 years, despite its space increasing by 46 per cent over the same time frame.

For the last six years Sainsbury’s has been awarded an A rating for taking action on climate change by the CDP, the highest rating of any UK supermarket.

The £1 billion investment will be used to implement a number of changes, with a focus on reducing carbon emissions, food waste, plastic packaging, and water usage, while increasing recycling, biodiversity, and healthy and sustainable eating.

Mike Coupe, CEO of Sainsbury’s, said: “We have a duty to the communities we serve to continue to reduce the impact our business has on the environment and we are committing to reduce our own carbon emissions and become Net Zero by 2040, ten years ahead of the government’s own targets, because 2050 isn’t soon enough.”

“We have a strong heritage of reducing our carbon emissions, and we have reduced them by 35 per cent over the past 15 years despite the footprint of our businesses increasing by over 40 per cent.”

“We invested £260 million in over 3,000 initiatives over the last decade, including the start of our LED lighting programme and refrigeration. Over the next 20 years we will invest a further £1 billion in programmes that will transform the way we do business and put environmental impact at the forefront of every decision we make.”

“We recognise that we have a once in a lifetime opportunity to make the changes needed to help the planet exist sustainably. We have over 27 million customers each week and almost 180,000 colleagues and we hope that can collaborate across industries and sectors to help create momentum and drive meaningful change.”

Dexter Galvin, Global Director of Corporations and Supply Chains of the CDP, said: “This is a critical year in the race to tackle climate change, and it’s vital that companies step up, as customers are increasingly demanding.”

“We welcome Sainsbury’s ambition to bring its operational emissions down to Net Zero by 2040, a decade ahead of the UK’s climate target. The retailer has further committed to set a science-based target verified by the Science Based Targets initiative and will work with their suppliers to set their own targets aligned with the Paris Agreement.”

“With this bold action, it’s not surprising Sainsbury’s has achieved a place on CDP’s 2019 Climate A List. These commitments also send a clear message to politicians that businesses want more ambitious action to protect our natural world and people’s quality of life as we head towards the COP26 climate summit.”