Retailers are becoming greener. Marks & Spencer and Tesco were singled out for special praise in the Carbon Trust’s annual report, which detailed how it has helped UK businesses implement 10.8 million tonnes worth of CO2 cuts since its creation in 2001. In the last year alone UK businesses and public sector organisations achieved carbon cuts of between 4.6 and 5.4 million tonnes and the Carbon Trust’s Chief Executive Tom Delay said pilot schemes implemented by the retail sector have been pivotal in that success.

Marks & Spencer and Tesco were listed as trailblazers. “Among businesses and public sector organisations – the country’s largest energy consumers – there is now a clear sense that carbon reduction is not a short term trend. It is an identifiable market with its own fast developing imperatives,â€? said Delay.

“Organisations such as Tesco and Marks & Spencer want to move quickly and have already developed comprehensive approaches. According to the Trust’s figures, businesses account for 40% of the UK’s carbon emissions and they believe a quarter of that can be saved. They also stress that cutting emissions need not be purely a PR exercise and that in a world of high energy prices companies can save themselves money by reducing emissions.

This was the driving force behind Marks & Spencer’s Plan A, a £200m commitment to green initiatives – including a target to become carbon neutral within five years, which was announced earlier this year. 

“M&S were one of the first big retailers to take action on carbon,â€? the report said. “They have seen significant reductions. Each square foot of sales space generated 45% less CO2 in 2006 than it did in 2002. The value to the M&S brand is less easily quantified but the sheer scale of Plan A suggests the board believes there is a lot to be gained.