Tesco has joined forces with the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) to measure and track the environmental impact of a selection everyday foods for the first time.
The supermarket group and not-for-profit organisation have launched what they call the Sustainable Basket Metric that tracks the environmental impact of a sample of regularly purchased foods against key sustainability criteria, including climate change, deforestation and food and packaging waste.
Tesco and WWF will then run a first full assessment against the metric in early 2020 and publish the results. They will also then be able to confirm a date by which they believe the target of halving the impact of the average UK shopping basket can be reached, with 2030 a potential ambition.
The two organisations, which launched a partnership last year, are working together on a number of sustainability projects, including soil health and water usage programmes in UK agriculture, and towards the production of zero-deforestation commodities such as soy in Tesco’s supply chains.
The products included in the basket have been selected due to their popularity with consumers and the different impacts each product has on the environment. The basket includes household staples such as bread, milk, meat, fish, and fruit and vegetables.
Tesco’s CEO Dave Lewis commented: “At Tesco we want to provide customers with good quality, affordable food that is produced in a sustainable way. To help us achieve this we’ve partnered with WWF with the goal of halving the environmental impact of the average UK shopping basket.
“Throughout our partnership, we’ll be carrying out industry-leading work to make food production more sustainable, including sourcing commodities like soy and palm oil from verified zero-deforestation areas, and improving soil health and water usage on farms in the UK. Working together we can help to ensure the natural environment is protected for future generations.”
WWF UK CEO Tanya Steele stated it wanted other retailers to take a similar approach to Tesco’s and come together to ensure a “more sustainable approach to food production.”
NAM Implications:
- This initiative has to be a pointer for other retailers, everywhere…
- For suppliers this means close monitor of ‘the list’…
- …to ensure their fair share of any action…
