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In this report:

Sustainable timber: page 12

Further information:

The Prince’s Rainforest Project: www.rainforestsos.org

Act on CO2: www.direct.gov.uk/actonco2


Key challenge:

indirect transport impacts Recognising that our responsibilities for minimising our impact on the environment from transport extends beyond our own vehicles, we have been working with forum for the future to more fully assess the wider extent of our current business impact. This broader view encompasses activities such as Partner travel to work, customer travel to our shops, and supply chain distribution, and preliminary work suggests that these vastly overshadow our own direct impact. We will continue to explore this issue and intend to introduce commitments and programmes in this area that will help to deliver meaningful reductions.


Key challenge: biofuels

We are currently trialling pure plant oil (PPO) in seven vehicles, which reduces CO2 emissions by 60% over ordinary diesel fuel. We are also exploring dual-fuel engines which would enable a blend of diesel and PPO to be used. However, the use of biofuels – crops grown for fuel rather than food – is a contentious issue and the long-term implications of such a solution need further consideration. There may also be opportunities to use agricultural waste (such as straw) as a fuel source in the future.


Driving transport improvements

The Partnership’s 2,000+ commercial vehicles and company cars travelled 48 million miles and together with third-party contract distribution produced 61,000 tonnes of CO2e last year. This represents 12.1% of the Partnership’s total CO2e emissions and an improvement of 7% of CO2e per £million sales since 2005/06 – well on our way to our 2013 target of 15%.

Our work to reduce the impact of our road haulage operations on the environment, overseen by our Transport CO2 Reduction Steering Group, includes providing viable delivery options for local and regional producers dealing in small volumes and using computerised route planning and ‘load consolidation’ systems to streamline our supply chain and minimise unnecessary journeys. We also make use of otherwise empty vehicles on outward or return journeys (forward- and backhauling), which avoided over 2.2 million miles in 2008/09.

Having our own fl eet allows us to select which vehicles and engines to use, and trial new technologies where appropriate. Our lorries all have aerodynamic features to improve fuel effi ciency, Waitrose’s refrigerated lorries use advanced, high-effi ciency refrigeration systems and John Lewis’s multi-deck trailers have enhanced capacity, reducing mileage.

However, adding an extra 200 home delivery vans will add 1,300 tonnes (75%) to the CO2e footprint of Waitrose’s e-commerce operations, while John Lewis’s enhanced delivery service, introduced in March 2009 to support business growth and reduce our reliance on third-party carriers, will require more than 75,000 journeys to be made by our own vehicles in 2009. The location of new stores, in relation to our distribution centres, also presents a challenge. For example, as a traditionally southern retailer, Waitrose has few shops in the north of england and Scotland. As a result the CO2e produced by the distribution fl eet in servicing our two shops in edinburgh represents 4% of our total transport emissions, the new Waitrose store in Glasgow (opened in november 2009) will add a further 2%. We participated in an enDS Carbon benchmarking study earlier this year and, among other fi ndings, the report concluded that the carbon effi ciency of distribution is primarily affected by the scale of a company’s operations. Over time, we hope to benefit from such effi ciencies; in the meantime we will utilise the presence of our John Lewis shops in Scotland to lessen our impact.


On your bike:

Forty-seven Waitrose shops, including St neots, Cambridge and Brighton, now have cycle trailers for pedalpowered customers to tow their shopping home with. And it’s not just customers we’re trying to encourage: a new scheme, PartnerCycle, was launched in July 2009 enabling Partners to ‘hire’ bikes as a tax-free benefit, with the value being deducted directly from their salary. Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40