The Green Issue: 2 October

Publishing: 2 October

Submissions deadline: 20 September

Advertising deadline: 20 September

Download the synopsis here

Contacts

News: Daniel Woolfson and Ronan Hegarty 

Opinion piece pitches: Carina Perkins 

For features, please contact the writers below

Feature 1: What’s the future for on-pack environmental scores? by George Nott

Nutrition is no longer the only information concerning consumers. A growing number of shoppers are concerned about the environmental impact of the food they buy – and concerned enough for that to sway their purchase decisions. That’s prompted a wave of efforts to quantify the environmental impact of products on-pack. Foundation Earth has gained the most support, but there are other schemes such as Lidl’s Eco Score for its own brand ranges. How do the systems work? What are their strengths and weaknesses? Which framework is likely to gain ground and why? Are we likely to have one benchmark system that is mandated, like traffic lights? And to what extent will this influence consumer choice?

Feature 2: The final frontier in carbon emissions by Megan Tatum 

As climate change takes centre stage, brands are queuing up to claim their low or zero-carbon credentials. But measuring carbon impact isn’t as simple as it may seem – and ‘scope three’ emissions are the trickiest area. These are indirect emissions that occur in a company’s value chain, such as employee commuting, waste disposal and use of sold products. And, as Rubies in the Rubble wrote in its April column, they are often the hardest to address. So how are companies going about measuring these emissions? How important is this to get right? What are the main difficulties in getting a read, and how can these be overcome? And what are companies doing to get scope three emissions down?

Feature 3: Just how far can in-store recycling go? by George Nott 

The UK’s recycling infrastructure has long come under fire for being inconsistent and failing to accept key materials, like flexible plastic. So the mults are increasingly taking the issue into their own hands. Tesco has extended its soft plastic recycling scheme to all large stores. Co-op is also doing flexible plastic recycling, and Aldi made a similar move in May. So who’s doing what? Are these schemes all the same and if not, how do they differ – is one more extensive? To what extent are these points a solution? Will they become a common feature in supermarkets? And will consumers really bring back their recycling – or is this just a sticking plaster on a broken national system?

Feature 4: Creative challenge by Daniel Selwood

We challenge creative agencies to come up with the ultimate eco-friendly supermarket