Marks & Spencer has launched a new eco and ethical programme that aims to support 1000 communities, help 10 million people live healthier lives and convert the retailer into a zero-waste business.
Plan A 2025 consists of three pillars – well being, transforming lives and communities and caring for the planet.
It will see the M&S make commitments such as ensuring its packaging is “widely recyclable”, raise £25 million for health and community charities, have employees complete work-time community volunteering, reduce its greenhouse gases by 80 per cent, ensure all key raw materials M&S uses coming from sustainable sources, halve food waste by 2025, and more.
The new plan is a follow-up to the original 100-point Plan A that was launched 10 years ago.
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“Marks & Spencer has been at the forefront of social change for 133 years and we‘re determined to play a leading role in the years ahead,” M&S chief executive Steve Rowe said.
“Plan A 2025 will help us build a sustainable future by helping our customers live healthier lives, supporting the communities they live in and we source from and looking after the planet we all share.
“We believe we can engage all of our 32 million customers, 85,000 colleagues and 200,000 shareholders in the plan that becomes a mass voice for sustainable change.”
Plan A Advisory Board chair Jonathon Porritt added: “On all the big challenges – supply chain, climate, food waste, living wage, human rights, packaging, community investment and so on – the pressure is intensifying and expectations rising. It‘s great to see M&S leading the way here.”
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Plan A 2025 will be backed by a marketing campaign that includes M&S‘s first-ever Plan A store take-over with every single one of its store windows featuring a Plan A message.
M&S‘s 70 biggest stores will also a welcome zone that details what the store is doing to support its local community.
Plan A 2025 is part of M&S‘s new Spend It Well brand campaign and comes just a week after the department store chain reported a 64 per cent drop in full-year profits.
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