While Tony Blair tells the world he will not be cutting back on long haul holidays, we are fortunate in being able to look to Marks & 
Spencer as our eco champion. They are spending £200 million over the next five years on going green, planning to become the country’s most environmentally friendly retailer.
They are not doing it in a half-hearted way either. They are making major changes, including sending no more waste to landfill, reducing CO2 emissions by 80% and trialling the use of food waste to power their stores.
Stuart Rose is very canny, he has captured the mood of the moment, as well as meeting pressing environmental needs. He believes, like myself, that more people are switched on to environmentally friendly initiatives than people give credit for. Stuart Rose is a shrewd operator and will have done his homework before agreeing to a 100-point eco-plan, he is confident M & S will remain profitable, that they will have public support, that it will enhance their reputation. I am even be tempted to buy shares in their company, even though I don’t own any at all, because I applaud this move.
It is this kind of excellent example that will make other companies rethink their green initiatives. I admire every word Stuart Rose says, because these are the actions I could see we needed long ago, but our Government was too ineffective to push them along:
“Every business and individual needs to do their bit to tackle the enormous challenges of climate change and waste. While M&S will continue to sell great quality, stylish and innovative products, our customers, employees and shareholders now expect us to take bold steps and do business differently and responsibly. We believe a responsible business can be a profitable business. We are calling this “Plan A” because there is no ‘plan B’.
“M&S will change beyond recognition the way it operates over the next five years. We will become carbon neutral, only using offsetting as a last resort; we will ensure that none of our clothing or packaging needs to be thrown away; much of our polyester clothing will be made from recycled plastic bottles instead of oil and every year we will sell over 20 million garments made from Fairtrade cotton.
“We will clearly label the food we import by air; UK, regional and local food sourcing will be a priority and we will trial the use of food waste to power our stores. We will do this without passing on the extra cost to our customers.
“We will also help our suppliers and customers to change their behaviour. Because we are own-brand our influence extends to over 2,000 factories, 10,000 farms and 250,000 workers, as well as millions of customers visiting over 500 stores in the UK.
“This is a deliberately ambitious and, in some areas, difficult plan. We don’t have all the answers but we are determined to work with our suppliers, partners and Government to make this happen. Doing anything less is not an option.”
Rose knows others will follow their lead, I predict he will be given an honour for this innovative step. He’s listened to his customers - no more wasted packaging being one of the biggest bugbears.
It reminds me of an interview I had for a freelance press job with one of the country’s top home builders about four years ago. I mentioned that they should build eco-homes homes and develop this brand to give them an edge against their rivals. I suggested that they should have communal recycling facilities on new estates, chutes in flats, lots more trees and nature areas, but they didn’t want to know. I told them that it would be legislated if they didn’t take it on board, that they could be leaders instead of followers. The reply was that they were only interested in making money. I didn’t get the job, btw, and I wouldn’t want to work for a company that was so small minded.
I very much like Rose’s plan to clearly label food imports, that local foods will be a priority. This plan has got to be a winner. Do you think so too?
