In its latest sustainability report, Marks & Spencer evaluates its progress in achieving a set of 100 different sustainability commitments, including that related to the use of climate-friendly refrigerants. Having installed a total of 12 secondary refrigeration systems using CO2, the company maintains that from 2010 all new installations will use R744 wherever possible.
UK food retailer Marks & Spencer (M&S) has published its 2009 report on its performance with regards to its social, environmental and ethical commitment. Although this is the sixth report issued, it is the first to include an independent commentary.
The company, which aims to make its operations in the UK and Republic of Ireland carbon neutral, only using offsetting as a last resort, has reduced CO
2 emissions in its stores, offices, warehouses and delivery vehicles by nearly 100,000 tonnes. This is an 18% decrease on its 2006/7 baseline, at the same time as having increased its store space by 10%.
M&S strengthens R744 commitment
According to the document, to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions from refrigeration, M&S has installed 9 secondary systems, which use CO
2 to chill food displays in a further nine stores, bringing to 12 the total number of such installations. The company has also created a programme to train the engineers who install and maintain such technology.
In that light, the company has updated its commitment with regards to refrigerants, with a new commitment to replace the most harmful HCFC gases by 2014. Aiming to progressively reduce total refrigeration greenhouse gas emissions, from 2010 all new installations will use eco-friendly CO
2 systems wherever possible.
M&S’s performance across 100 commitments, including refrigerants
M&S launched a set of 100 commitments on the most important social, environmental and ethical challenges facing the company under the name “Plan A” in January 2007. In a page summarising the company’s performance over the last two years across all 100 commitments, the report maintains that the company has started to work on all items, out of which 39 have been achieved, and 24 of these have resulted in new targets going further.
With regards to refrigerants, the company has committed to continue replacing HCFC gases and help develop better alternatives than HFCs for use in its refrigeration and air conditioning systems. The report states that the progress with regards to this commitment is “on plan”. More specifically, using more accurate measurement techniques, M&S calculated the composition of gases used during 2008/09 in its store refrigeration and air conditioning systems as 13% HCFCs, 86% HFCs and 1% other natural fluids and gases.
About M&S
Food retailer M&S operates 668 stores in the UK. The company has been recognised at the Cooling Industry Awards, as an Environmental Pioneer For Air Conditioning in 2008, and for completing the Retail Installation of the Year in 2007. M&S was also ranked first among the UK’s leading supermarkets in terms of its efforts to use CO
2 and other natural refrigerants in the Environmental Investigation Agency’s survey “Chilling Facts: The big supermarket refrigeration scandal” released early this year.
