M&S is investing £1m in a bid to tackle the methane produced by cows by changing the diet of the herds that provide its milk as it looks to achieve its Net Zero by 2040 goals.
The business is working with all 40 of the pasture-grazed dairy farmers in its supply base with the aim of cutting 11,000 tons of greenhouse gas emissions annually produced by cattle burps and manure.
It said that adding a new type of feed to the cows’ diet would reduce the carbon footprint of its main fresh milk by 8.4%.
The retail titan has also launched a £1m Plan A Accelerator Fund and is now working in partnership with long-standing and new suppliers “to take rapid action towards net zero through a series of innovation projects”.
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One of the first projects supported by the fund is what M&S describes as a “first of its kind trial”, asking customers to donate their unwearable clothes to Oxfam, alongside wearable clothing.
These unwearable items will be cleaned and used to support fibre to fibre recycling, where fibres are re-used and turned into new material, preventing them going to landfill and moving closer to a more circular fashion economy.
While a new trial using AI data will be used to predict a store’s optimal heating, ventilation and air conditioning controls to reduce energy consumption will also be rolled out across six stores.
This aims to reduce HVAC costs by up to 30% and when run across the M&S estate, it could save an estimated 2,000 tonnes of carbon and around £3m annually.
Over eight initiatives will be funded through the Plan A Accelerator Fund this year, with some looking at energy, recycling, technology and water.
Introduced as part of its ambition to be the most trusted retailer, M&S’s industry-leading sustainability plan ‘Plan A’ first launched back in 2007.
Since then, the business became the first large retailer to bring fresh chicken to UK shelves, first to introduce machine washable wool to its clothing offer, easy grow hems on its market-leading school uniform, and more recently the M&S Food x Zoe gut shot which it said “has quickly become a top selling healthy eating product”.
M&S chief executive Stuart Machin said: “I talk a lot about the ‘magic of M&S’ – and a key part of this is our commitment to innovation. It’s in our DNA and, along with our unique model of own brand, long term supplier partnerships, it’s how we deliver the quality and trust our customers expect from us.
“By turning our obsession with innovation towards climate change and tapping into the entrepreneurial spirit of our suppliers we can turbo charge our drive to be a Net Zero business across all our operations and entire supply chain by 2040. I’m excited by the big difference these small changes could make to some of the toughest climate challenges we face.”
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