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New Energy World™
New Energy World™ embraces the whole energy industry as it connects and converges to address the decarbonisation challenge. It covers progress being made across the industry, from the dynamics under way to reduce emissions in oil and gas, through improvements to the efficiency of energy conversion and use, to cutting-edge initiatives in renewable and low-carbon technologies.
Food for thought: How major food retailers approach net zero
12/6/2024
10 min read
Feature
Major food retailers are putting considerable effort into their net zero strategies. Significant initiatives are underway by the likes of the John Lewis Partnership, with its Waitrose operations, and Marks & Spencer, with its famous Plan A sustainability campaign. New Energy World Features Editor Brian Davis examines their strategic approaches to the energy transition and carbon emissions reduction.
In his role as Energy and Innovation Manager of the John Lewis Partnership, Neil Coleman sees decarbonisation strategy as ‘a moving target which is constantly evolving’. Energy optimisation is a key objective, with day-to-day monitoring of setpoints for building energy management, and a focus on capital investment for upgrade and innovation in heating, lighting, air conditioning and transport.
‘John Lewis has an SBTi (Science-based Targets Initiative) validated net zero pathway, to ensure it hits climate related targets by specified dates. The SBTi pathway helps validate that our strategy is cohesive, coherent and deliverable,’ he explains.
The John Lewis Partnership has committed to be net zero in its own operations by 2035 across Scope 1 and 2 energy and industrial market-based emissions versus baseline FY2020/2021. However, Scope 3 is more challenging, with a target to cut greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions across the entire supply chain by 2050. The latter is the responsibility of the Ethics and Sustainability team, which focuses on sourcing policies for products like palm oil and sustainable wood, for example. Coleman’s team is focused on decarbonisation of the built environment serving retail stores (34 under the John Lewis name, and 10 times as many badged as Waitrose), plus warehouses and other facilities.