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Sustainability

Introduction

We’re serious about sustainability and we care about our impact. There’s no plan B when it comes to our planet.

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Where we are

We consider the impact of every decision we make - from how we transport our products and power our stores, to selling products that are too good to waste. We’ve become the first national retailer to sell only slower-reared, higher-welfare, fresh chicken. And we only use responsibly sourced cotton in our clothing products. Our latest report has more detail.

Download our sustainability report
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Plan A

Plan A is our focus to become a net zero business across all our operations and value chain by 2040. We’ve set out clear targets for years before then and laid out an ambitious roadmap with 10 priority areas where we’ll focus first. We’re reimagining almost every part of how we work. This is our opportunity to make our planet a better place to live and work. Because there is no plan B.

Achievements in 2022

We’ve set big targets, and we’re already making progress.

Reduced food waste

We reduced our food waste to 46% and remain on track to meet our 50% reduction by 2030 target. We redistributed 79% of food that wasn't sold to charities, organisations or colleagues – that’s a 34% increase on the previous year, and a big stride towards our goal of 100% by 2026.

Sustainably sourced material

We sourced 100% of the cotton in our clothing from responsible sources with organic and recycled certifications. For the cotton in our Home products – we’re currently at 90%, with a goal of 100% by 2026.

Helping customers recycle

We increased our recyclable food packaging to 93% as we strive to be at 100% by 2026. Our clothes recycling scheme, known as ‘Shwopping’ has been live since 2008, and has raised £23m for Oxfam in this time – all while reducing waste.

Reducing carbon emissions

We reduced our carbon emissions by 32% and are on course to meet our 55% target by 2030 as we strive for net zero in our stores and logistics network. In our owned International business, we’ve now switched to low-carbon LED lighting in 63% of our stores, with a goal to reach 100% by 2025.

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Our ambitions

We’re working to become a net zero business. To make that happen, we pledge to: 

Reduce our emissions

We strive to reduce carbon emissions by over a third by 2025 and more than half by 2030

Source responsibly

We aim to source all our soy from verified deforestation-free regions, to responsibly source all of our palm oil by 2025, and only use verified recycled polyester by 2025

Use more recyclable packaging

We aim to make all our packaging recyclable by 2025 and to reduce plastic food packaging by 30% (1 billion units) by 2027

Increase vegan and vegetarian products

We aspire to double the number of vegan and vegetarian products by 2024

Reduce food waste

We’re working to redistribute 100% of edible surplus by 2025 to those who need it most and halve food waste by 2030