Tesco Awarded Carbon Trust Standard After Absolute Carbon Reductions

Posted on 09. Jun, 2009 by Ross in Retail & Commercial

Tesco has announced that it has been awarded the Carbon Trust Standard by the Carbon Trust, and that it has finally achieved a reduction in its absolute carbon emissions.

Compared to the 06/07 and 07/08 financial years, Tesco’s absolute carbon emissions were reduced by 0.7% over 08/09. That translated to impressive carbon intensity reductions of 12.5% per unit net sales area and 15.1% per unit turnover. This was achieved despite continuing growth and the acquisition of a chain of garden centres.

After leaving itself open to accusations of greenwash last year by focusing on a 4.7% carbon intensity reduction whilst ignoring an 8.6% absolute carbon emissions increase, this year’s figures have managed to underline the company’s seriousness about reducing it’s greenhouse gas emissions. The company is now targeting 50% emission reductions from all stores by 2020 relative to a 2006 baseline, as well as a 50% reduction in the distribution footprint of goods by 2012.

The accreditation of the Carbon Trust Standard is particularly timely for Tesco. The award constitutes 50% of the early action metric for judging performance in the forthcoming Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC) scheme. The CRC is the UK’s cap-and-trade scheme for businesses which is due to start in April 2010, forcing around 5,000 businesses to buy carbon credits for each tonne of carbon dioxide that they emit. League tables will be released comparing the performance of participants, with the top performers likely to end up profiting directly from the scheme.

The early action metric is the sole metric that the Carbon Reduction Commitment league tables will be based on for the first two years of operation, hence achieving the Carbon Trust Standard enables companies to make substantial progress up the table.

Companies looking to achieve the Carbon Trust Standard must work with the Carbon Trust to make substantial carbon emission savings via a variety of projects such as installing low-energy lighting. Somar International is an established company with a range of energy-efficiency technologies specifically for industrial and commercial operations which save energy, money and carbon whilst improving working conditions with negligible disruption during installation. Our products can be funded by interest-free loans from the Carbon Trust, enabling your business to become more competitive and deliver positive cash flow from month one!

Image by Ian Muttoo @ Flickr