Managing carbon emissions
International Greenhouse Gas Reporting Protocols
We commissioned independent specialists to advise us about how to calculate our operational carbon emissions using the international best practice standard known as the World Business Council for Sustainable Development’s Greenhouse Gas Reporting Protocols.
We’ve measured the emissions from our stores, offices, warehouses, transport fleets and business travel in the UK and Republic of Ireland at around 470,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide and equivalent gases (CO2e) but we know our impact is even greater: emissions from production, use and disposal of M&S products by customers produce a carbon footprint of over 6 million tonnes of CO2e.
Our CO2e emissions
- Store and office energy 51%
- Store and office refrigeration emissions 29%
- Warehouse energy 6%
- Warehouse gas emissions 1%
- Delivery fleets 12%
- Business travel 1%
Our latest performance can be found in our 2008 How we do business report (1.8MB PDF)
Energy efficiency
During 2007/08 we made good progress reducing usage to 65.3 KWh / sq ft- equivalent to a 4% decrease. We have identified new energy efficiency specifications which have been included in our programme to build and refurbish stores supporting the work of a new team of energy managers. We have also introduced a new automatic energy monitoring and targeting website available to all M&S operated UK and Republic of Ireland stores and is currently being used by around 140 locations. This will help us analyse store performance and identify potential improvements.
Green electricity
23% of our electricity, is generated from renewable sources. Whilst most of this is from ‘grid’ sources, we are also buying electricity from a farm based windturbine and an anaerobic digestion facility which generates power from food waste. This is in addition to over 60% of our electricity being sourced from less polluting good quality combined heat and power (CHP).
Food from the UK and Republic of Ireland
We source a significant proportion of our food from the UK, for example, in 2007/08 we bought 10% of all UK blackberries, 12% of UK raspberries, 26% of UK plums, 10% of UK strawberries and 48% of UK cherries.
Air freighted food
We have identified (and labelled) all our air-freighted food and ensured that we only use this form of transport where more local alternatives are not available.
Low carbon products
In January 2008 we also launched a range of large household electrical ppliances, such as fridges, freezers and washing machines, all of which are at least ‘A’ rated for energy efficiency. Many of these products are featured on the Greener Living section of our website.
Helping customers to reduce their footprints
As part of The Climate Group’s ‘Together’ campaign, M&S promoted 30 C washing temperatures for clothing. Around 70% of our clothing is labelled with the ‘Think Climate Recommend Wash at 30 C’ message and supported with in-store information. In early 2008 the ‘wash at 30 C’ message was added to the front of all our washing detergent packaging.
This is an important step because around 75% of the carbon footprint of clothing can result from washing, drying and ironing. During the year we succeeded in helping to raise the % of 30 C washes carried out by our customers from 23% to 31% (according to market research). We believe that this move has the potential to save around 25,000 tonnes of CO2 a year.
See our policies on Carbon trading, Carbon labels, Carbon Offsets and Bio-diesel >>