Rocktails Blog > Carbon neutral bandwagon gathers pace ... Marks and Spencer and Tesco announce radical environmental plans

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> Carbon neutral bandwagon gathers pace ... Marks and Spencer and Tesco announce radical environmental plans

Richard Jones, iMagineer-in-Chief // 20 January 2007

2007 is fast becoming the year of climate change action (reaction). 2006 saw a lot of talk. Now, slowly but surely, the wake up call is having a direct effect on corporate decisions if not (as yet) the steady march of increasing emissions. It is an important symbolic step in the right direction, though. When big business starts buying into big ideals great things can happen. And when business leaders act clearly and publicly on a future that aligns profits with principles you know one thing : those principles must be getting pretty deeply rooted in the public consciousness.

This week we have seen Marks & Spencer announce an audacious £200m five year carbon neutral plan. The announcement came from the "turnaround king" Chief Executive Stuart Rose - the guy who has transformed the embattled brand back to high street prominence. Rose confronted the million dollar question head on: "[yes] we believe responsible business can be profitable business." The boldness of the plan is really underlined by its reliance not on smoke and mirrors "carbon offsetting", but on creating self-sustainable carbon neutral practices and infrastructure. These measures tackle emissions head on, not by conceding defeat that emissions will/must happen but - hey - we can pay for some trees someplace to make up for it.

Tesco too is reinforcing its own credentials (already not bad due to its track record in using bio fuels). It will raise consumer awareness by marking all products with "green labels" that highlight the energy used to produce and transport the product to stores. Given the massive market share that Tesco enjoys - and broad cross section of society that visit its stores - this may in fact have more of an impact than individual businesses (however big) can ever hope to achieve. The catalyst for climate change action lies in individual responsibility and accountability. Purchasing a guava from Africa? Hmmm, that's not a very "green" label for one piece of fruit.

Sure, this raises tough questions about reliance on overseas/local produce. It also spotlights the ethical paradox between supporting Fair Trade overseas economies (which inevitably involve wasteful and polluting air travel) and the climate change imperative to shift more emphasis towards domestic and localised sources of supply. There are no easy answers. But if the climate change challenge is to be met there is no point in hiding them away from consumers born and bred to worship the God of convenience.

Here is your five minute warning...

Finally, we heard this week that the "Doomsday Clock" agreed upon by a bunch of atomic scientists has returned to a perilous five minutes to midnight. (Jeez, how did it get so close to midnight in the first place?). The chart below shows how the clock has tracked various global crises from the 1940s through the turbulence of nuclear threats and - now - the calamity threatened by climate change and genetic experimentation. Of course within all of these there are opportunities too. But the human race is staring some pretty stark man-made challenges in the face. Let's hope we don't blink. Here's the chart:

Doomsday Clock