Another type of CAP

The news last week that the eight of the UK’s largest retailers and climate action non-governmental organisation Wrap and WWF-UK have joined together to help standardise measurement and reporting of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from food and drink, as well as drive action on cutting the environmental impact of our food and drink, is a good news story. Another CAP has joined the acronym pile, and it’s the Retailer Net Zero Collaboration Action Programme (CAP).

Retailers are discovering, as other industries (ahem, dairy) have before them, that getting a standard reporting format is the first step to reducing the environmental footprint for the sector. The range of different approaches that is currently in place just confuses people and lowers the probability of people sticking to it and working to reduce their carbon footprints. (www.dairysustainabilityframework.org)

Let’s face it, if the WWF and Wrap’s Courtauld 2030 GHG targets are to be met, everyone needs to pitch in. The retailers of the UK – Aldi, Co-op, Lidl, M&S, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Waitrose – are on the front lines of issues with the environment. As a whole, they represent around 80 per cent of grocery retail market share on these isles.

Overall, they span the breadth of the supply chain, with their trucks travelling from farms and warehouses, supplying stores, packaging and waste disposal. The reductions in emissions and waste have to be farm to fork, and retail is such a key segment in the overall line that stretches to the consumer.

We cannot have the food on our forks “driving climate chaos and wreaking havoc on nature,” as Kate Norgrove, executive director of advocacy and campaigns at WWF says. “Food businesses must now supercharge the pace of climate action through this programme, to put the food system on a sustainable footing and bring our world back to life.” Indeed. They may be a little late to the party (Dairy Roadmap, since 2008, http://www.dairyuk.org), but we welcome them all the same. Let’s go!

• Suzanne Christiansen, editor, Dairy Industries International.
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