The joint venture between Ocado and Marks & Spencer has said it is the first supermarket in the world with a net zero head office.
Ocado Retail has paid for 1000 tonnes of carbon dioxide, which it expects to emit from its Hatfield headquarters over the next seven years, to be removed from the atmosphere.
It reached the deal with Climeworks, a carbon capture company based in Zürich.
The supermarket intends to become net zero by 2040, although it is not clear whether this includes “Scope Three” pollution from suppliers.
READ MORE: Ocado moves north of the border with £80m Scottish hub
Ocado Retail was launched in September 2020 after a £750 million investment from Marks & Spencer.
In the six months to October 2021, 27 per cent of Marks & Spencer’s sales came through the venture.
“We are immensely proud to be the first supermarket in the world to have a net zero office,” sustainability lead Daniel Costigan said.
“Running a sustainable business is incredibly important to us and our customers.”
In other sustainability news, Morrisons became the first British grocer to buy its own recycling centre this week.
The retailer purchased a “significant stake” in the Fife site, which, once built, will turn 15,000 tonnes of soft plastics into new products every year.
These plastics are notoriously hard to recycle and are accepted by just a fifth of local authorities.
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7 Comments. Leave new
What about recruiting disabled people? 20% of your workforce should be disabled, along with the rest of the population
Well done Ocado.
Can you also put pressure on producers to limit the amount of plastic packaging they use and also to find acceptable alternatives? Thank you.
That’s surely not how to do it though is it? I mean I could be the world best footballer and get Ronaldo to play for me instead?
Not everyone supports an ever more extreme green agenda. Not everyone will be happy to be paying more in order to pay for carbon capture. Jumping on what appears to be a band wagon is not something to be proud of. Sorry but not everyone believes in the new green religion with man made climate change as its central belief.
Please do not discontinue use of carrier bags. It is so convenient and time efficient for driver and customer to use bags. I don’t return bags weekly but in bulk every few weeks but they are returned. Some I use for other purposes but again thus recycling in a different way. It’s one reason I love using Ocado weekly- that as well as good dates on food and friendly drivers..
What a load of rubbish! We NEED Carbon Dioxide and so does the environment, what the heck is this all about! So you can pump your dirty chemicals and diesel into the air, build on greenbelt and then claim “net zero” remove pure Carbon Dioxide from the air. you are stupid Ocado!!
This is brilliant.
Facts are facts and we need to be taking these steps now. So many people working since the 1970s or so to bring awareness to this need to care for the planet better, and now, years later the governments and big companies are taking note.
The option to not use plastic bags like Sainsbury’s offer would be great as they can only be recycled a certain amount of times.
Less plastic packaging, more affordable organic, all this would help.
There’s more than could help while keeping things affordable, maybe even cutting costs however this is a great start