Sir; At long last British retailers appear to be waking up to the huge threat posed by climate change. Last week Tesco was the latest store bidding to become Britain's 'greenest' grocer.
Friends of the Earth welcomes the growing realisation that urgent action is needed to tackle global warming, and that retailers must do far more to cut their emissions.
And Sir Terry Leahy's speech last week contained lots of interesting initiatives that will hopefully lead to significant cuts in Tesco's carbon footprint.
Cheaper energy-efficient light bulbs and carbon labelling on all Tesco products are welcome developments that will hopefully encourage shoppers to become greener consumers. But important as these announcements are, they do not remove the need for tougher government action to reduce UK emissions.
For example, cutting energy use from existing Tesco stores is a positive move in this regard.
But the supermarket's plans to continue building car-dependent new outlets outside of town centres are not. We need stronger planning rules to ensure sustainable retail development, not a weaker system as proposed by the Barker Review.
The government must also signal it is serious about moving towards a low-carbon economy and do more to help us all - consumers and retailers - play a bigger role in achieving this.
Friends of the Earth's climate campaign, The Big Ask, is calling on the government to ensure its new climate change law requires annual cuts in UK carbon dioxide emissions of at least three per cent.
The campaign already has widespread support, and we would be delighted if Tesco gave us wholehearted backing too.
Friends of the Earth welcomes the growing realisation that urgent action is needed to tackle global warming, and that retailers must do far more to cut their emissions.
And Sir Terry Leahy's speech last week contained lots of interesting initiatives that will hopefully lead to significant cuts in Tesco's carbon footprint.
Cheaper energy-efficient light bulbs and carbon labelling on all Tesco products are welcome developments that will hopefully encourage shoppers to become greener consumers. But important as these announcements are, they do not remove the need for tougher government action to reduce UK emissions.
For example, cutting energy use from existing Tesco stores is a positive move in this regard.
But the supermarket's plans to continue building car-dependent new outlets outside of town centres are not. We need stronger planning rules to ensure sustainable retail development, not a weaker system as proposed by the Barker Review.
The government must also signal it is serious about moving towards a low-carbon economy and do more to help us all - consumers and retailers - play a bigger role in achieving this.
Friends of the Earth's climate campaign, The Big Ask, is calling on the government to ensure its new climate change law requires annual cuts in UK carbon dioxide emissions of at least three per cent.
The campaign already has widespread support, and we would be delighted if Tesco gave us wholehearted backing too.
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