It may have been a year of missed financial targets for Tesco, but it’s had no such problems on the environmental front.

In its drive to slash carbon emissions 30% by 2020 and to become zero carbon by 2050, it has opened the first zero carbon store in Asia and transferred more distribution to rail in the UK than any other retailer, it claims,

It has reduced its UK carbon footprint despite increasing the size of the business and estimates that the energy efficiency measures it has introduced have reduced its costs by about £200m a year against a 2006 baseline.

Through the Tesco Knowledge Hub and carbon reduction pilots, it is also working with suppliers to reduce their environmental impact and it has moved ‘beyond carbon’ by calculating the water footprint of its direct operations.

It also co-chairs, with Unilever, the Consumer Goods Forum Sustainability Group, which is driving industry-wide commitments to sustainable supply chains.

And last month, it issued guidance to its suppliers on how to slash their emissions by introducing greener refrigeration part of a series of planned strategies that CEO Philip Clarke claims can have a “transformative effect” on the industry.

Its achievements have already earned it the title of best global retailer for its carbon mangement, disclosure andpeformance in the Global 500 and FTSE 350 Carbon Disclosure indices.

Our judges said: “It seems to have really stepped up its green agenda in the past year and has done a lot good work on carbon reduction. It has made very significant progress in terms of commitment and change.”

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