// John Lewis has made new sustainability-focused pledges including a biodiversity programme with WWF
// The partnership has said it wants all key materials, such as timber, cotton, soya, palm oil, cocoa and cashmere to come from more sustainable sources by 2025
John Lewis unveiled its new sustainability pledges, including “buy back or take back” schemes operating in every product category by 2025 and plans to develop more rental and resale options as it steps up efforts to be a more sustainable business.
The partnership, which runs Waitrose supermarkets and John Lewis department stores, has also said it will invest £2m over the next five years to restore and protect nature in Norfolk, a key source of meat, cereal and vegetable products, and in India’s Noyyal and Bhavani river basins, where it sources cotton, under a partnership with WWF.
The company will encourage the regeneration of species including water voles, grey partridges and lapwings at its own farm in Leckford, Hampshire, where it will also aim to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from agricultural processes to net zero by 2024.
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The partnership has said it also wants all key materials, such as timber, cotton, soya, palm oil, cocoa and cashmere to come from more sustainable sources by 2025, and polyester, leather and human-made cellulose by 2028.
John Lewis director of ethics and sustainability Marija Rompani said: “Delaying action is simply not an option,”
“We all know that we can’t exist without nature; it is essential for our survival and it will play a vital role in solving the problem of climate change. We can’t solve one without the other, the crises of nature loss and climate change are inextricably linked.
“Whether it’s eliminating fossil fuel use across our transport operations, investing millions in conservation projects in regions where we source our products, or helping our farmers make the transition to net zero, we are acting where we can make the biggest impact.”
WWF director of food strategy David Edwards said the UK was in the bottom 10% of countries globally for the abundance of nature and one of the main reasons for that was the way we produce food.
“One of our ambitions with the John Lewis Partnership is to scale up regenerative, nature-friendly agricultural approaches in one of the UK’s most intensively farmed landscapes and use our learnings to inspire change across the food sector,” he said.
Just this week the retailer launched a ‘dress for hire’ rental service as it looks to cater to shoppers amid the ongoing cost-of-living crisis and to offset environmental issues.
The department store retailer has set its sights on encouraging “a more sustainable way of shopping,” and has partnered with the online rental specialist Hurr to do so.
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