Tesco has outlined five key areas of focus, including cutting absolute emissions from energy and supporting the UK’s transition to electric transport, in a manifesto and has called on the food industry to take collective action to achieve transformative change.

Setting out Tesco’s priorities, Tesco CEO, Ken Murphy stressed the need for both efficiency improvements and cutting-edge innovation if the retailer, and the wider food industry, is to meet its climate change targets. In 2017, Tesco committed to science-based climate targets on a 1.5C trajectory and aims to reach its net-zero climate target in the UK by 2035, fifteen years earlier than originally planned.

In 2018, Tesco launched a partnership with WWF to halve the environmental impact of food, and tackle some of the biggest issues connected to food production, including climate change. Through a combination of efficiency improvements and switch to low-carbon innovation, Tesco delivered a 50 per cent absolute emissions reduction last year on a 2015 baseline, beating its 2020 science-based target of 35 per cent.

Tesco has pledged to continue its work to reduce emissions in its own operations, including a switch to renewable energy across all its operations by 2030. (It already uses 100 per cent renewable electricity in the UK and Europe) and partnering with renewable energy investors to launch new renewable power generation projects and create new offsite UK solar and wind farms.

The retailer is also launching its first fleet of 30 electric home delivery vans, switching to a fully electric delivery fleet by 2028. To support the wider adoption of electric vehicles across the nation, Tesco is also rolling out 2,400 charging points for customers across 600 stores, with 400 stores already fitted with the chargers. By the time the programme has concluded, Tesco will have boosted the UK’s electric charging network by 14 per cent.

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