Translations

MARKS and SPENCER’s “Plan” to be the most sustainable retailer.

1. Organizational Governance

Strategy and organization

Sector Business / Distribution

Year 2010

Country United Kingdom

Transmitter

Context

Mark’s and Spencer’s (M&S) are one of the UK’s leading retailers, with over 21 million people visiting their stores each week. They’ve recently celebrated their 125th anniversary and continue to do business on the principles which their business was founded: quality, value, service, innovation and trust.

On 15 January 2007, M&S launched an initiative, known as "Plan A", to dramatically increase the environmental sustainability of the business within 5 years and expected to cost £200 million.

The plan covers "100 commitments over 5 years to address the key social and environmental challenges facing M&S today and in the future" with the tag-line "Because there is no Plan B". The commitments span five themes: climate change, waste, sustainable raw materials, 'fair partnership' and health.

Objectives

Become carbon neutral.
Send no waste to landfill.
Extend sustainable sourcing.
Help improve lives of people in their supply chain.
Help customers and employees live a healthier life-style.

APPROACH

Climate Change: Their goal is to become carbon neutral by 2012 in UK and Republic of Ireland operations. They’re doing this by both reducing their energy consumption and increasing their use of renewable electricity, only using offsetting as a last resort.

Waste: They have made commitments to ensure that none of their clothing or packaging ends up in a landfill. They are moving towards this goal in a number of ways, including reducing packaging, improving recycling and cutting down on plastic bags. In 2009, they recycled 125 million hangars and recycled 37 million plastic bottles into polyester for clothing and home wear.

Sustainable raw materials: M&S have very high standards for animal welfare, sustainable fishing, and farming. They have also moved their whole fresh turkey, duck, and geese to free range and have already introduced clothing ranges made from organic linen and cotton.

‘Fair Partnership’: They have committed to paying a fair price to suppliers, supporting local communities and ensuring good working conditions for everyone involved in the supply chain. Partnerships have been made with charities and organizations such as Breakthrough, Closed Loop Recycling, Groundwork, Oxfam, Prostate Cancer Charity, Shelter, Woodland Trust, and WWF.

Health: Working to improve the health of both customers and employees, they have reduced salt, fat, and saturated fat levels in their food, and provide healthier alternatives through their Eat Well and Count on Us offers. They've also improved labelling to make it easier for customers to eat well, and have trained 1,500 in store Health Advisors to provide customers with advice on healthy living.

CONTRIBUTION TO COMPANY PERFORMANCE

Energy cost savings by making stores more energy efficient by 10%.
Better corporate image and employee motivation.

Benefits

31% of electricity from renewable sources and reduced carbon emissions by 18%.
Reduced food packaging by 12% and clothing packaging by 15% and 90% of all packaging is recyclable.
Reduced food waste by 20%.
53% wood from sustainable FSE sources or recycled.
Cut use of food carrier bags by 83% and gave the savings to charities.
In 2009, 705 people completed the Marks Start Program which helped disadvantaged groups get into work.