Today, Marks & Spencer and WWF announce a new partnership to support Plan A, M&S’ five year £200million, 100 point eco-plan, which includes commitments to take its UK and Republic of Ireland operations carbon neutral, send no waste to landfill and significantly extend sustainable sourcing by 2012.

Marks & Spencer will work with WWF on environmental projects in its agricultural supply chain as it looks to increase its sourcing of sustainable raw materials.. WWF will also support M&S in its efforts to help customers and staff to take action to reduce their individual carbon footprint, including through the WWF’s Footprint Calculator, which is available at www.marksandspencer.com/PlanA . The retailer will also be funding WWF’s conservation projects in Borneo and the North East Atlantic Marine Eco-Region .

Stuart Rose, Chief Executive of Marks & Spencer said: “We are taking bold action already within our own business, although we have a long way to go. We have also promised to reach out to our customers, our staff and our suppliers to help them to take action to reduce their own environmental impact. We have already made some real inroads here, but we are delighted that we can now accelerate this process with expert support and advice from WWF.”

“Agriculture and the production of food and textiles is where our human ecological footprint is at its greatest and so we are delighted to have strengthened our relationship with Marks and Spencer to help us drive better practices in this sector”, says David Nussbaum, WWF UK Chief Executive. “This partnership will address some of the most significant environmental challenges on the high street today and Marks & Spencer once again are showing themselves to be at the cutting edge of environmental retailing.”

- ends -

Editor's notes:

• WWF is now known simply by its initials and the panda logo.
• Marks & Spencer is one of the UK’s leading retailers, with over 15.8 million people visiting its stores each week. It offers clothing, home and food ranges in 520 stores in the UK and through its website, www.marksandspencer.com. M&S employs over 75,000 people. It has a growing international presence, with 219 franchise stores across 34 territories, as well as wholly-owned stores in Ireland and Hong Kong.
• Go to www.marksandspencer.com/PlanA for more information on the M&S’ five-year eco-plan.
• The partnership will demonstrate the link between the beauty of the world in which we live and the links between these habitats and the way in which we shop.
• Go to http://footprint.wwf.org.uk/ to see WWF’s footprint calculator

For further information, please contact:
David Cowdrey WWF t: 01483 412378
Bella Vuillermoz M&S t: 020 8718 1967

Back to press releases index

Back to top