Marks & Spencer (M&S) has announced 80 new initiatives under its ‘Plan A’ eco programme and committed to begin implementing them within the next five years.
Amongst the most ambitious commitments set out today by the high street retailer is to ensure that at least 50 per cent of
M&S’ 2.7 billion products across 36,000 product lines carry at least one
sustainable or ethical quality – such as Fairtrade or Marine Stewardship Council certification – by 2015, and that all M&S products meet this criteria by 2020.
Also unveiled today by the retailer, which sells clothing,
food and homeware, is a goal to get all 2,000 of its suppliers to adopt
Plan A best practice. This will include backing 200 sustainable factories and encouraging 10,000
farmers to join M&S’ sustainable agriculture programme.
£50 million five year Plan A incubator fundIn another significant move, M&S has announced the launch a £50 million five year Plan A incubator fund to support the development of
innovative new products and services at the retailer.
M&S, which is one of the leading UK retailers with over 21 million customers visiting its stores each week, said these and other measures it has committed itself to introduce by 2015 will ensure it becomes a world leading sustainable retailer.
“Since we launched our eco plan, Plan A, in 2007 we’ve reduced our environmental impact, developed new sustainable products and services, helped improve the lives of people in our local communities and saved around £50 million by being more
efficient,” said M&S chairman Sir Stuart Rose. “We’ve now set ourselves the ambitious target of becoming the world’s most sustainable retailer by 2015, so that we lead the way in making a positive contribution to the environment and society across everything we do and everything we
sell.”
The original Plan A committed M&S to 100 sustainable initiatives by 2012 – 46 of which the retailer says have already been achieved. M&S said today’s announcement extended Plan A by seeking to involve all of its customers and
employees and embedding sustainability across its
business operations.
M&S recently commissioned ComRes to survey its UK consumers, which found 72 per cent of them were worried about environmental issues, while 73 per cent said the recession had not changed their level of concern.
£100,000 prize for 'Your Green Idea' competitionIn order to encourage its customers to live a more sustainable lifestyle, one of the initiatives launched today is a competition inviting them to submit their ideas for green actions for M&S to adopt. Called 'Your Green Idea', the competition will give £100,000 to the winning idea. The prize will be able to be spent on ‘greening’ an organisation, such as a school, charity or
small business.
Other actions unveiled include sourcing all cardboard for M&S food packaging via a single ‘model’
forest programme, and increasing the number of customers’ clothing garments
recycled every year from two million to 20 million.
M&S has also promised to provide full traceability of all the key raw materials used in its clothing and home products, and to ensure that six of them – palm oil, soya, cocoa, beef, leather, coffee – come from sustainable sources that do not contribute to deforestation.
“Our extended Plan A will reach further and move us faster – covering every part of our business and reaching out to forests, farms, factories, lorries, warehouses and into our customers’ and employees’ homes.
“We believe sustainability is a key ingredient of business success and that Plan A will continue to make us more efficient, develop new markets and build customer loyalty. It’s therefore not just the right thing to do morally but also makes strong commercial sense,” said Rose.
M&S announcement welcomed by environmentalistsToday’s announcement has been welcomed by environmental groups.
Glyn Davies, director of Programmes at WWF, said: "WWF is delighted to see the progress M&S is continuing to make – with a new action plan to become the world's most sustainable retailer. This raises the bar – and provides leadership for other retailers, as well as offering an opportunity to engage staff and customers in Plan A, so helping to reduce their ecological footprint.”
Jonathan Porritt, founder director of Forum for the Future, added: “Through [Plan A], M&S is addressing the right things, in the right way, to secure critically important outcomes […] It’s not just progress against all the specific actions that matters, but the way in which M&S is transforming its core business model through Plan A”.
Last week, M&S announced under its Plan A that it had
entered into partnerships with four local authorities across the UK to collect an additional 60,000 tonnes of recyclable material from six million people every year by 2015, with approximately 15,000 tonnes of it being diverted back into food packaging and reused by M&S.
M&S says that in 2009/10 alone, its Plan A has delivered cuts in
CO2 emissions of 40,000 tonnes, reduced 10,000 tonnes of packaging and diverted 20,000 tonnes of waste from landfill.
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