A view from Forum for the Future

Over recent months, the role of supermarkets has come under the spotlight like never before. Government has held inquiries into how they operate; customers have made their views known on topics like plastic bags and packaging. At the same time, we have seen retailers setting ambitious targets that demonstrate visible leadership amongst businesses and put government to shame.

This Review paints a picture of Tesco responding across a breadth of issues, and acknowledging the complexity of difficult problems in an upfront way. It provides insight into Tesco's perception of the role of a responsible retailer. Tesco clearly recognises the key concerns of civil society, such as high street diversity, and its responsibilities to the local community. We are heartened by the fact that sustainability issues are increasingly part of a strategic approach to how Tesco does business. We can now see the beginning of investment of serious resources, stronger management systems and processes, and the launching of new product lines.

The Review also contains clear targets against which Tesco can manage its business and external commentators can hold it to account. We particularly welcome the introduction of additional future commitments across its international stores, on issues such as trading fairly and reducing carbon, challenging Tesco to meet higher targets.

One of the most important contributions a retailer of this size can make is in engaging customers and making green choices widely available. Sir Terry Leahy has spoken compellingly about his desire to "deliver a revolution in green consumption". There are lots of good initiatives described here - such as the positive rewards of green Clubcard points for environmentally friendly behaviours. We believe that Tesco is well positioned to bring sustainable products out of the niche and into the mainstream in a way that adds value to the Tesco brand. We urge Tesco to scale these initiatives up and to make them more visible to shoppers in the stores.

Climate change is one of the biggest challenges we face, and Tesco should be commended for its pioneering initiatives in this area. Whilst we acknowledge Tesco's dedication to customer choice, the scale and urgency of climate change will require retailers to take difficult decisions in the short term, rather than wait for consumer education to drive the market for low-carbon products. We warmly welcome moves by Tesco to offer competitively priced, climate friendly, products but we believe that, in the future, supermarkets like Tesco will have to be bolder about 'editing choices' on behalf of customers.

There are areas where Tesco can make further improvements. As a sustainable development charity, we would like it, for example, to drive down waste more aggressively and take a more positive approach to its role as a fair trader. The Review shows how Tesco is increasingly becoming international and highlights interesting initiatives in other countries. As it expands globally, it will have to work hard to apply the same standards and ambition in tackling sustainability issues everywhere it works.

Ultimately, we need to ask the question "how does this all add up?" We only have the one planet earth. Going forward, Tesco's challenge is to set out its vision for sustainable retail, detailing action on how it will address its broader sustainability impacts as clearly and robustly as it has done for climate change. Tesco will want to find ways to adapt a business model based on continual growth of sales and global expansion, to address living within environmental limits. This will require a holistic consideration of how the products Tesco sells are sourced, used and disposed of by customers, whilst addressing the fundamental question of creating more value with less impact on our planet. This will require brave action, but leadership here will deliver continued commercial success, and truly sustainable consumption.

Peter Madden
Chief Executive

Shannon Carr-Shand
Sustainability Advisor, Business Programme