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One of the world's largest supermarket chains has unveiled a ten-point corporate responsibility plan.
The series of measures, which were announced by Tesco chief executive Sir Terry Leahy last month, commits the UK’s biggest retailer to a number of social and environmental steps. Tesco will set aside £100million ($185m) to equip stores with wind turbines and solar energy, introduce health labelling on its 7000 own-brand products by spring 2007, and improve the way it consults with communities before building new stores.
Crucially, the company says, it will add two community-related aims – to ‘be responsible, fair and honest’, and to ‘be a good neighbour’ – to its ‘steering wheel’ of 20 business goals, which hitherto have been confined to aims such as ‘maximizing profits’, ‘growing sales’ and ensuring clean aisles.
As a result, Tesco says the performance of many of its 360,000 staff will be measured on CSR issues ‘far more clearly than ever before’.
Tesco will also aim to cut the number of plastic bags given to customers by 25 per cent within two years and increase local sourcing of food sold in UK stores.
Hailed as ground-breaking by some commentators, these targets have been criticized as weak and unconvincing by others who say the package is a knee-jerk reaction to last month’s decision by the UK’s Office of Fair Trading to refer the grocery sector to the Competition Commission over allegations that large supermarket operators are exercising too much power.
Andrew Simms, policy director at the New Economics Foundation think-tank, said the plans were not far-reaching enough and that the company was ‘using diluted CSR in a calculated way to maintain market power’. Tony Juniper, executive director at Friends of the Earth, said they were ‘a classic example of greenwash at work’.
However, Will Hutton, chief executive of the Work Foundation think-tank, said the ‘substantial pledges made by such an influential company’ could be ‘a tipping point for the development of new corporate sustainability among other businesses’.
Leahy said the Tesco in the Community plan had been devised in response to consumer demand, reflecting a desire to be a ‘good neighbour,’ rather than as a reaction to recent criticisms.
see editorial, page 12
The series of measures, which were announced by Tesco chief executive Sir Terry Leahy last month, commits the UK’s biggest retailer to a number of social and environmental steps. Tesco will set aside £100million ($185m) to equip stores with wind turbines and solar energy, introduce health labelling on its 7000 own-brand products by spring 2007, and improve the way it consults with communities before building new stores.
Crucially, the company says, it will add two community-related aims – to ‘be responsible, fair and honest’, and to ‘be a good neighbour’ – to its ‘steering wheel’ of 20 business goals, which hitherto have been confined to aims such as ‘maximizing profits’, ‘growing sales’ and ensuring clean aisles.
As a result, Tesco says the performance of many of its 360,000 staff will be measured on CSR issues ‘far more clearly than ever before’.
Tesco will also aim to cut the number of plastic bags given to customers by 25 per cent within two years and increase local sourcing of food sold in UK stores.
Hailed as ground-breaking by some commentators, these targets have been criticized as weak and unconvincing by others who say the package is a knee-jerk reaction to last month’s decision by the UK’s Office of Fair Trading to refer the grocery sector to the Competition Commission over allegations that large supermarket operators are exercising too much power.
Andrew Simms, policy director at the New Economics Foundation think-tank, said the plans were not far-reaching enough and that the company was ‘using diluted CSR in a calculated way to maintain market power’. Tony Juniper, executive director at Friends of the Earth, said they were ‘a classic example of greenwash at work’.
However, Will Hutton, chief executive of the Work Foundation think-tank, said the ‘substantial pledges made by such an influential company’ could be ‘a tipping point for the development of new corporate sustainability among other businesses’.
Leahy said the Tesco in the Community plan had been devised in response to consumer demand, reflecting a desire to be a ‘good neighbour,’ rather than as a reaction to recent criticisms.
see editorial, page 12
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