As one of the UK’s largest retailers, the carbon footprint of Marks & Spencer is a large one: emissions total 500,000 tonnes per year – that’s from 500 stores, 20 warehouses, five offices and transport. In the supply chain there are 4.5 million tonnes of emissions across thousands of factories and farms, which sharply racks up the carbon. And on top of this, there is the actual use of products in 15 million customers’ homes. Mel Poluck speaks to Mike Barry, Sustainable Development Manager at Marks & Spencer about the innovations he has put in place to counter this mammoth carbon footprint.

What are the company’s current carbon emission levels?

“Marks and Spencer’s CO2 is around 600 million tonnes as a whole – that’s 1% of the CO2 of the country. So we’re not a clean little shop. It’s potentially a very significant footprint, but most is [produced] in people’s homes and factories. We feel we can mobilise change. We’re in the middle of a spider’s web between consumption and production.”

What drives carbon reduction measures you’ve taken?

“It’s been driven by efficiency gains and driven by shifting to green sources. After five years they’ll be some CO2 left – we’re doing some offsetting now. There is a cost motivator. Cutting fuel makes good business sense and it remains a driver.”

What’s the biggest carbon challenge the company faces?

“Supply chain emissions and customer emissions.”

How do you tackle these?

“First get the numbers. Two years ago we got the scale of it – we were shown in great detail where the footprint is. There are some real spikes in the food and clothing business. In clothing 80% of the footprint is associated with the wash cycle, so last April we launched the ‘Wash at 30 Campaign'.”

“In collaboration with the Climate Group’s ‘We’re in this together’ campaign we’ve launched ‘Plan A;’ our overarching commitment to address social issues. It has five basic areas: ‘climate change;’ ‘waste;’ ‘sustainable raw materials;’ ‘fair partner;’ and ‘health’ – 29 of the 100 actions are to do with climate change.”

What are the key priorities now?

“We’ll be carbon neutral within five years. We aim to use 25% less energy and use green energy in all our stores.”

What holds the biggest potential for green energy sources for the company?

“Short term energy contracts can be volatile and expensive. Waste from farming and food waste are a great source of energy and wind turbines on farms would give us more control over the price we pay. We plan trials to use farm waste [to generate energy]. It is the most interesting solution and you can kill two or three birds with one stone if you take the waste and use it to create green electricity.”

Tell us about your most successful low carbon initiatives

“We’ve shifted all Scottish stores to green electricity and all Simply Food stores use 100% green electricity. The bulk of the rest use Combined Heat and Power (CHP). And we’ve made significant gains in logistics and fleet – energy use is down 9% in absolute terms. And we’ve been one of the few retailers to put a symbol on our food to show it’s been flown.”

What key advice would you give to someone taking up your position at a retail company?

“Look and see what other people are doing. We’re working with the Energy Savings Trust and the Carbon Trust. Reinterpret savings for your specific business. There are hundreds and hundreds of things you can do – you could go crazy doing them all. Come up with a five-year plan, that’s what Marks & Spencer has done. And work on what will help you deliver using communities – bring suppliers together.”

In future what emerging tool or technologies do you envisage Marks & Spencer making use of?

Anaerobic digestion, which takes waste and produces electricity and for lorries, ‘Euro 4’ and ‘Euro 5’ efficient engines. Also, biodiesel – although you’ve got to be vastly cautious about the source. We stopped trials until we find a reliable source. It’s about people, processes and culture as much as hard technology.”

How do you encourage the customer to be energy efficient?

They’re not going to make significant changes until they see us and the government take the lead. Our carbon commitment says we’ll prove we’re making sacrifices and changes before we ask them to.”

If you would like to comment on this interview, please click here

Best Practice Ideas

Please visit the Forum here and share a tip that you have for organisations to reduce their carbon emissions. Often the very simplest ideas can have the greatest effect in reducing carbon emissions:

• When implementing renewable energy, look at partnering with neighbouring companies and organisations to drive down cost.
  (Paul Sweenie, Environmental Technical Officer, Peterborough City Council)

• Only fill the kettle with as much water as you need.
  (Toby Sawday, Business Development and Sustainability, Alastair Sawday Publishing)

• Make buildings future proof – orientate the roof ready for when you can afford photo voltaic solar panels and look at “shading” as well as insulation, too.
  (Paul Isbell, Energy Manager, Bristol City Council)