If using solar panels to power Tesco stores is ‘greenwashing’, what isn’t?

Tesco has become the latest supermarket to face accusations of ‘greenwashing’. But is there any basis to the criticism?

The backlash surrounds an 860-acre solar farm on the Kent coast, due to be operational by 2025. Located near Faversham on the Graveney salt marshes, the project has faced years of opposition. It won planning permission on the basis it would power more than 100,000 homes, The Telegraph reported on Thursday.

Critics of the project have been even more unhappy to learn that, in fact, 65% of the solar farm’s output has been purchased by Tesco. That power will go from the solar farm to the national grid, and Tesco will pay a fixed rate for it, to provide 10% of its UK electricity demand – enough clean energy to power the equivalent of 144 large stores for a year.

The other 35% of the solar farm’s output will be managed by Shell as it buys up renewable electricity to power its growing network of EV charging stations – leaving none for homes.

“This project was approved on the premise that it would power homes, not petrol stations and supermarkets,” said Vicky Ellis, of the Kent branch of the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE).

“The irony of a major supermarket such as Tesco and a prominent oil producer such as Shell buying into the green energy market to run their petrol stations and supermarkets is not lost on us. We suspect this is another example of greenwashing.”

No secret

But if buying the renewable energy to power 144 supermarkets is greenwashing, then what isn’t? After all, it’s not as if Tesco has made a secret of the plans. Last week, CEO Ken Murphy hailed the project as a positive step in its net zero ambitions.

“We’re delighted to be announcing such a significant step in our journey towards carbon neutrality across our own operations by 2035,” said Murphy.

“Cleve Hill Solar Park, with its ability to generate up to 10% of our UK electricity demand, joins a number of other power purchase agreements we’ve announced over the last five years. With its ability to provide vital energy storage infrastructure, it’s a key part of the renewable energy strategy in the UK, and further evidence of our commitment to tackle climate change and source green electricity from innovative projects like this.”

As for Shell, surely it would be more ironic to power its EV charging points using non-renewable energy? 

Land use objections

For CPRE, the main issue lies with use of rural land to generate power. “Our first thought is if they are so invested in green energy, why have they not plastered their petrol station and supermarket roofs and car parks with solar panels?” Ellis told The Grocer.

However, Tesco is plastering its supermarket roofs with solar panels. In November 2023, it announced plans to install solar panels on 100 of its large stores across the UK over the next three years. Currently, more than 40 Tesco stores have solar panels fitted on the roof, and a programme of work is underway to reinforce roofs that aren’t yet strong enough. The supermarket also met its 2030 ambition to switch to 100% renewable electricity in its own operations across the Tesco group 10 years early.

Meanwhile, only 5% of the UK households have solar panels, according to solar provider Sunsave – not a statistic Tesco could reasonably be blamed for, though some might try.

And let’s not pretend CPRE would have been happy about the project if not for Tesco’s involvement. In fact, the campaign group is one of those to have opposed the solar farm even when the output was pitched as for homes.

There are many legitimate examples of greenwashing in the food & drink industry. They lie in the stream of announcements about tiny incremental reductions in plastic packaging, which make an endless PR exercise out of baby steps. They lie in the targets that are set and then quietly changed or retracted. Or the in-store recycling schemes for soft plastic, which often result in the material being burned.

But Tesco striking the UK’s largest-ever solar corporate power purchase agreement is not one of those examples – unless we broaden the definition of greenwashing to include ‘not in my backyard’.