Marks and Spencer 2008 Annual Report Download - page 32

30 MARKS AND SPENCER GROUP PLC
Plan A
Plan A is our five-year ‘eco plan’ to
address some of the key social and
environmental challenges facing M&S.
We pledged to meet 100 separate Plan A
commitments within five years, and so
far we have made progress on 94 of the
100 commitments.
By 2012 M&S will:
• become carbon neutral with minimal
offsetting;
• send no waste to landfill from our operations;
• extend sustainable sourcing;
• set new standards in ethical trading; and
• help customers and employees live a
healthier lifestyle.
We’re committed to Plan A, because it’s
the right thing to do. There’s also a powerful
business case. Plan A not only gives us
distinction in a crowded marketplace, but
challenges us to increase efficiencies, and
continually seek new and better ways of
doing business, so that we can achieve the
ambitious targets we have set ourselves.
Climate change
Despite opening more than 100 new stores
in 2007/08, we cut our total CO2emissions
from our stores, offices and warehouses
by nearly 50,000 tonnes. We achieved this
9% decrease on last year by switching an
additional 21% of our electricity to renewable
sources. We also improved our energy
efficiency by 4%, and started sourcing
electricity from farm-based wind turbines
and an anaerobic digestion facility which
generates power from food waste.
Because around 60% of our carbon
footprint is generated by our suppliers,
and a further 30% by our customers,
we’ve been looking closely at how we can
encourage our suppliers to reduce their CO2
emissions. For example, we encouraged the
development of low carbon supplier factories
(see story to right).
Green from top
to bottom
We worked in collaboration
with two suppliers – MAS
Holdings and Brandix – to
launch two eco clothing
factories, which will use
40% less energy and half
as much water as typical
supplier factories. From July,
customers can buy lingerie
made from these factories,
under our Autograph and
per una labels. We hope to
open a similar plant later
this year in Wales.
Banish the bag
One of our highest profile projects in 2007/08 was
undoubtedly our decision to introduce a food carrier
bag charge of 5p in all of our UK stores, with profits
funding local environmental projects run by our partner
Groundwork UK.
Initial trials in more than 50 M&S stores in Northern
Ireland and the South West, showed around a 70%
drop in plastic carrier bag usage, and raised over
£80,000 to create and improve green spaces in local
neighbourhoods. If M&S customers continue
at this rate, we’ll save over 250 million bags
from landfill every year.
Wash at 30
As part of the Climate
Group’s ‘Together’
campaign, we’re
encouraging our customers
to save energy by washing
their laundry at 30ºC. By
introducing ‘Think Climate –
Wash at 30’ labels in 70%
of our clothes and on our
washing powder, we’ve
seen the number of washes
now done at 30ºC increase
by 23% to 31% since
April 2007. That’s a total
reduction of 25,000 tonnes
in CO2emissions.
The carrier bag initiative has been a big hit with
our customers who want to do their bit to make
a difference. We can’t wait to start working with
Groundwork in Leeds so we can begin to see
changes here in the local area.
Kate Edwards, Plan A
Champion for Leeds store
Kate joined M&S as customer assistant
in 2003 at the Blackburn store before
moving to the Leeds store in 2004.
As a Plan A Champion, on top of
her everyday job as store operations
manager, it’s her role to motivate some
350 staff to ‘think green’. She’s pictured
with the M&S cotton shoppers.