Marks and Spencer has adjusted its sustainability programme, Plan A, with a pledge to cut its carbon footprint by a third by 2025 as part of its commitment to be fully net-zero by 2040.

Part of the renewed focus will be on becoming a net-zero Scope 3 business across its entire supply chain and products by 2040. The retailer has set out a detailed roadmap to net-zero using science-based targets aligned to the UN ambition of limiting global warming to 1.5C. The target would see M&S achieve full net-zero ten years ahead of the Government’s UK-wide strategy and will require rapid decarbonisation of its business to cut its carbon footprint by a third by 2025, from a 5.7million tonne 2017 baseline.

The retailer launched Plan A in 2007 and became the first major retailer to reach carbon neutral status in 2012. Now, Steve Rowe, M&S CEO, has written to the company’s global supplier base outlining its requirements for the future.

Rowe commented: “We launched Plan A 14 years ago, because we knew then there was no Plan B for our planet. We now face a climate emergency, and in resetting Plan A with a singular focus we can drive the delivery of net-zero across our entire end-to-end supply chain. This won’t be easy. We need to transform how we make, move and sell our products to customers and fundamentally change the future shape of our business.”

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