Sainsbury’s will take a leading role in helping shoppers improve their diets while helping to reduce their impact on the environment one plate at a time. In late spring, the retailer will retire its ‘Live Well for Less’ brand motto and launch its new mission, focusing on ‘Helping Everyone Eat Better’ and will share more with its colleagues and customers on what this means for them in the coming months. The retailer has also been announced as the Principal Supermarket Partner for the United Nation’s international climate change conference, COP26, taking place in Glasgow in November.
Offering customers quality food at affordable prices has been at the heart of Sainsbury’s for over 150 years and this will still be key. The new strapline aims to highlight how delicious food can also be healthy, sustainable and affordable.
Rooted in the belief that everyone deserves to eat well and the cost of healthy food shouldn’t be a barrier to this, Sainsbury’s has recently taken steps to make good, quality food accessible for all. The retailer recently price matched own brand and branded products to Aldi, focussing on meat, chicken and fresh fruit and vegetables. The supermarket has also topped up Healthy Start vouchers by £2, redeemable against fresh and frozen fruit and vegetables, which could help more than half a million people in need have access to nutritious food.
Research shows that shifting customers from a diet high in red meat, dairy and saturated fat, towards the Eatwell Guide could deliver benefits for our health as well as reductions in greenhouse gases of approximately 30%. As a supermarket serving communities across the country, working with a global supply base, Sainsbury’s has a responsibility and a once in lifetime opportunity to change that.
As part of its pledge to reach Net Zero by 2040 in its own operations, Sainsbury’s also committed to develop and deliver healthy and sustainable diets for all and will report on progress twice a year. On 17th June, Sainsbury’s will host its inaugural ESG day for investors, demonstrating that helping everyone eat better is imperative to its business strategy and long-term success.
Taking its commitment to tackling climate change even further, the retailer will play an integral part in critical collaborative work between global leaders, climate experts and businesses at COP26 this year. Sainsbury’s recognises that an issue of this magnitude can’t be solved on its own but as a business of 172,000 colleagues, serving millions of customers every week, with access to a global supplier network, together we can be force for change.
At COP26, experts from across the business will host and participate in events and talks showcasing the leadership and innovation which has allowed Sainsbury’s to reduce its carbon footprint by 42% in the past sixteen years, despite growing as a business by 46%. The retailer’s commitment to cutting its emissions has seen Sainsbury’s recognised a as climate change leader and is the only supermarket globally to be awarded the highest rating by the CDP for seven consecutive years.
Sainsbury’s recognises that it not only has a responsibility to its colleagues and the communities it serves in the UK but also as a global citizen, to reduce the impact the business has on the environment. The retailer has been working hard to reduce its emissions and is now pushing beyond operational initiatives in refrigeration and lighting, such as LED technology and installing its one millionth aerofoil fridge, by setting an absolute target* to reduce its Scope 3 Greenhouse Gas emissions by 30% by 2030. The target includes reducing emissions from purchased goods and services sold, upstream transport and distribution and the direct use of sold products. Sainsbury’s will work closely with its vast global supplier base to develop and then meet their own targets.
This builds on the retailer’s wider goals, announced in January 2020 to achieve net zero by 2040 in its own operations, investing £1 billion over twenty years to achieve this. As part of its commitment, the supermarket has outlined key pillars of focus in addition to carbon reduction targets, including healthy and sustainable diets, recycling, driving towards water neutral, reducing food waste and plastic packaging and working to be net positive for biodiversity.
Guided by science, the summit will focus on how the world can invest in a green recovery which creates sustainable jobs and addresses the urgent and linked challenges of public health, climate change, and biodiversity loss.
Simon Roberts, CEO at Sainsbury’s, said: “We believe that everyone wants to play their part and reduce their impact on the planet – and that we can help shoppers find simple ways to make delicious, great value food healthier and more environmentally friendly, one plate at a time.
“We have long recognised our responsibility to protect the environment and I’m extremely proud that we continue to lead the charge. Tackling climate change requires transformational thinking across industry and government and a willingness to collaborate globally. We are delighted to partner with COP26 and hope that it inspires our colleagues, customers and other businesses to rally together to protect and restore our planet for future generations to come.”
COP26 President Alok Sharma said: “Businesses have a key role to play in helping us build back greener and Sainsbury’s have shown strong leadership by making a clear commitment to combating climate change through science based measures, as well as reducing plastic packaging and empowering consumers to make more sustainable choices. I am delighted to welcome them as a Principal Partner for COP26.”
