The CEOs of five major UK supermarkets have committed to slash their impact across climate, deforestation and nature and lead the way for the whole food retail sector to halve its overall impact on the natural world by 2030, as tracked by WWF.
Joining forces for the first time, they are today urging the rest of the sector, from major brands, to manufacturers, to commodity traders and governments to take action for nature and climate to help achieve this ambition.
These supermarkets alone reach more than 50% of UK food shoppers so today’s commitment will help millions of UK families make their weekly shop greener and protect vital landscapes and species around the world.
The food we produce and the food we buy is responsible for 60% of global nature loss and globally contributes over a third of total greenhouse gas emissions – nearly 19 times that of the commercial airline industry.
Tanya Steele, WWF’s Chief Executive said: “We can’t tackle climate change and keep global temperature rise to 1.5oC without halting nature loss - and we can’t save nature without changing what’s on our supermarket shelves.”
In signing WWF’s Retailers’ Commitment for Nature, the leaders of Co-op, M&S Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Waitrose agreed: ‘As CEOs of leading UK food retailers, we recognise that a future without nature is a future without food. By 2030 we collectively need to halt the loss of nature.’
The steps these supermarkets are taking will feed into WWF’s annual assessment that will track the food retail sector’s overall progress, including alignment with government ambitions to end deforestation and ecosystem destruction in key UK supply chains. This is an important step as the majority of palm oil (89%) and soy (65%) imported to the UK comes from countries with high deforestation and habitat destruction rates.
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Posted On: 10/11/2021