Campaigners met supermarket bosses yesterday to urge them to come clean about their contribution to climate change.
A Christian Aid delegation visited Morrisons’ Bradford headquarters to call on the company to reveal the full extent of its greenhouse gas emissions - and reduce them. The delegation included Christian Aid’s climate change marchers, who are walking 1,000 miles this summer to draw attention to the world’s increasingly extreme climate.
The aid agency estimates that Morrisons’ total emissions amount to almost 5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide a year – more than some of the world’s poorest countries.
Morrisons emerged as the most carbon-intensive of six supermarkets analysed for Christian Aid’s Coming Clean report on companies’ emissions earlier this year. It was found to be emitting 72.9 tonnes of carbon dioxide per £1 million of turnover, while the next worst supermarket, Asda, emitted only 58.7 tonnes. The best, Sainsbury, emitted 53 tonnes.
Christian Aid supporters followed up the report by sending emails and postcards to the company, urging it to commit to cutting its greenhouse gas emissions by 5% a year, while publishing a full account of those emissions. Following the report, Morrisons published a target, saying that it aimed to reduce its carbon footprint by 36% between 2005 and 2010.
At yesterday’s meeting, Christian Aid marchers and staff urged Morrisons to publish a more complete account of its greenhouse gas emissions. This should include the impact of its refrigeration, offices and staff business travel, as well as the far more significant ‘Scope 3’ emissions from the company’s supply chain and during the consumption of its products.
Supermarket giants Tesco and Marks and Spencer (M&S) are doing better at reporting on their emissions. M&S has made an estimate of the environmental impact of its supply chain while Tesco reports about the climate impact of gases used in its refrigeration – which accounts for a quarter of its overall climate impact.
Christian Aid’s Cut the Carbon march will cover 1,000 miles in 80 days. The Cut the Carbon march aims to raise awareness all over the UK of the fact that climate change is not just a forecast, millions of people in the developing world are already suffering. The march started in Bangor, Northern Ireland on 14 July, and will eventually snake its way to the London Stock Exchange by 2 October. There will also be several major rallies and smaller local events along the way.
For further information on the route of the march and how to become a virtual marcher click here