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posted by on Friday May 19 2017, @03:11PM   Printer-friendly
from the so-many-trees-to-hug dept.

Now Business Green reports that the company [Tesco] is making a firm, long-term commitment to the fight against climate change. Specifically, that commitment includes a promise to slash its own operational greenhouse emissions 60% by 2025, and by 100% by 2050. It has also promised to run on 100% renewable energy by 2030. In the process, it became the first UK supermarket to have its climate change plans approved by the Science Based Targets (SBT) initiative.

Of course, even with these impressive goals, much remains to be done. As WWF's ['World Wide Fund for Nature' aka 'World Wildlife Fund'] head of climate and energy, Gareth Redmond-King, notes in the Business Green article, Tesco is a major retailer of gasoline and diesel due to the gas (petrol!) stations it runs at its stores. And a related commitment to slash supply chain emissions by only 17% by 2030 is not nearly as impressive as its own operational emissions targets.

Source: Treehugger.com


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  • (Score: 2) by Gaaark on Friday May 19 2017, @04:15PM (1 child)

    by Gaaark (41) on Friday May 19 2017, @04:15PM (#512236) Journal

    Does this long term commitment come with any real commitments? Like a contract: til death do they part?

    Has money been put into a trust or something to say: "Hey, if we renege we will donate all this money to WWF"?

    Sounds like good publicity that is free and can be made to go away after a while.

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    • (Score: 3, Interesting) by DeathMonkey on Friday May 19 2017, @05:24PM

      by DeathMonkey (1380) on Friday May 19 2017, @05:24PM (#512269) Journal

      Apparently they're on track to meet their previous goals so there's some evidence this is in good faith:

      Tesco's carbon footprint

      Emissions from stores and DCs make-up over 85% of our direct carbon footprint. To meet our new targets, we commit to 100% renewable electricity by 2030.

      Ten years ago, Tesco set climate change goals to:

      1. Halve emissions per square foot of our stores and DCs by 2020.
      2. Become a zero-carbon business by 2050.

      We've invested over £700 million in energy and refrigeration efficiency in our stores and DCs since 2007. This has reduced emissions by 41% per square foot of our estate. We are on track to achieve our -50% target by 2020. Our efficiency improvements have also cut our electricity bill by £200 million per year. Energy efficiency is not only the responsible thing to do, it saves money too.

      Our 50% 'relative' carbon reduction target translates into 10% 'absolute' reduction by 2020. This means we're on track to emit 10% less carbon from our estate in 2020 than we did in 2006. We are very proud of this achievement and will continue to invest in energy and refrigeration efficiency.
      Yet, we recognise that this pace of decarbonisation does not put us on track to becoming a zero-carbon business by 2050. So today we publish tougher targets to help Tesco contribute to limiting global temperature rises to 1.5 degrees.

  • (Score: 3, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 19 2017, @04:49PM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 19 2017, @04:49PM (#512251)

    Tesco

    Hay, editer! Tri editting duh hedline somtyme too inclood relivant infurmashoon thanx!

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 19 2017, @07:06PM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 19 2017, @07:06PM (#512305)

      The title is additionally confusing because there is a major supermarket chain called Giant [giantfood.com].

  • (Score: 2) by Unixnut on Friday May 19 2017, @07:17PM (4 children)

    by Unixnut (5779) on Friday May 19 2017, @07:17PM (#512308)

    Of course, even with these impressive goals, much remains to be done. As WWF's head of climate and energy, Gareth Redmond-King, notes in the Business Green article, Tesco is a major retailer of gasoline and diesel due to the gas (petrol!) stations it runs at its stores.

    I don't see what this has to do with their goals to run their business on renewable energy. Ok, if they were using the fuel themselves for transport I can see it being a claim against their "100% renewable" goal, but if they manage to run themselves on 100% renewable energy, then that is an achievement, whether they sell fuel to others who are not so into renewable fuel / eco credentials should not affect that.

    • (Score: 2) by takyon on Friday May 19 2017, @10:05PM (3 children)

      by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Friday May 19 2017, @10:05PM (#512406) Journal

      Even if the customers are burning the gas, distributors have to transport the gas to the gas stations, which requires energy.

      I guess another move they could take would be to add charging stations.

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      • (Score: 2) by Unixnut on Friday May 19 2017, @11:52PM (2 children)

        by Unixnut (5779) on Friday May 19 2017, @11:52PM (#512440)

        > Even if the customers are burning the gas, distributors have to transport the gas to the gas stations, which requires energy.

        Well yes, but everything requires energy. I presume you mean it requires fossil fuels? For that, either the distributors are not part of Tesco (so they can still be 100% renewable, even if it is a legal cop out), or they could use a carbon neutral method of bringing the fuel there.

        > I guess another move they could take would be to add charging stations.

        Not sure about the charging stations, unless they have really increased the rate at which electric cars charge, the charging stations around my area need the cars to be left plugged in overnight to get a full charge. Even a quick top up can take 3 hours or so.

        Compared to an average 10 minutes at the pump to fill up a gas car, a Tesco charging station would have to be huge (I've seen the amount of cars that can go through my local Tesco's petrol station, especially during peak shopping time).

        Actually... what they could do is make the parking spaces have a charging point. People park their cars anyway to go shop, a shop can take an hour if not a bit longer if you have a lot of people, so there is enough time and space to charge the cars.

        The load on the electric grid would be quite large though, and Tesco would have to find a way to charge for it, not to mention the costs of installing a charging point in every single parking spot, but it could work.

        I guess they would need some sort of coupon and/or time limit, to stop people just parking the car there to charge and leaving it for the day (which would reduce available parking for actual customers)

        • (Score: 2) by takyon on Saturday May 20 2017, @12:02AM (1 child)

          by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Saturday May 20 2017, @12:02AM (#512444) Journal

          For that, either the distributors are not part of Tesco (so they can still be 100% renewable, even if it is a legal cop out), or they could use a carbon neutral method of bringing the fuel there.

          I was just playing devil's advocate for Gareth Redmond-King and trying to imagine a way Tesco could reduce emissions while not affecting the customer. If Tesco doesn't sell the gas, someone else will.

          Actually... what they could do is make the parking spaces have a charging point. People park their cars anyway to go shop, a shop can take an hour if not a bit longer if you have a lot of people, so there is enough time and space to charge the cars.

          That's what I imagined. It would be funny if they were placed the furthest away from the store so that the people with gas guzzlers don't just take the spaces.

          I guess they would need some sort of coupon and/or time limit

          This is where the loyalty or membership card could come in handy. Plug in the car, swipe the card at a kiosk to activate, and get "logged out" when you pull the plug.

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          • (Score: 2) by Unixnut on Saturday May 20 2017, @01:13AM

            by Unixnut (5779) on Saturday May 20 2017, @01:13AM (#512469)

            > That's what I imagined. It would be funny if they were placed the furthest away from the store so that the people with gas guzzlers don't just take the spaces.

            Actually, I imagined that it would be all the parking spaces in the lot, with no "electric car only" spots. The electric charging points they put in the street next to me are like that, "electric only parking". So what happens is that apart from the odd Tesla or Volt, 99% of the time the spots are empty while everyone else crams into what is left of the street, causing extra congestion and general inconvenience for all involved.

            I can understand why the government did it that way on a public road, because if they didn't the charging points would get filled up with normal cars all the time, so someone in need of an urgent charge would be unable to make use of the facilities. Electric car drivers already suffer from range anxiety, without finding the only charging spots in the area are taken by normal cars as well.

            However a supermarket is unlikely to get that problem, so they could just wire up every single spot, and people park wherever it is free. At least my local Tesco lot has never hit 100% full, even at peak time, so finding a spot would not be a problem. That way maximum potential spots for either type of car.

            Funny thing is, I always park my cars furthest away from the store :) I put too much effort into keeping my cars nice and dent free, just to have them knocked and dented by people who open doors without caring for others property. Usually the spots furthest away are empty, so no need to worry that I will come back to a damaged car.

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