Morrisons has become the first UK supermarket chain to postpone its net zero carbon emission targets, delaying them by 15 years to 2050.
Britain’s fifth-biggest grocer said its new targets would cover the entire supply chain, as well as Morrisons stores, including emissions from agriculture and land-use sources.
The Bradford-based company said it had achieved a 22% reduction in total carbon emissions since 2019 – its baseline – through operational changes, energy-efficiency projects, lower-carbon logistics and collaboration with its suppliers.
Morrisons denied the changes were a watering down of its targets.
Andrew Edlin, head of sustainability at the chain, said: “The validation of these targets reaffirms Morrisons’ commitment to sustainability and the move to a 2050 target across the full value chain is a big step forward in our journey to net zero.
“We are taking upstream and downstream emissions of our operations into account, including emissions created in making products, in our stores, transport systems and then end-of-life emissions too. Additional targets for forest, land and agriculture (Flag) emissions reflect the importance of land-use and agricultural impacts across the business.”
He added that industry-wide collaboration would be essential in achieving these goals.
The government, under Ed Miliband, the energy secretary, has a target of reaching net zero in the UK by 2050, with interim carbon budgets for 2030 and beyond.
Morrisons is trying to turn around its sales performance, after running up debts in a £7bn takeover by the US private equity group Clayton, Dubilier and Rice in 2021. The German discounter Lidl has moved closer to overtaking Morrisons as the UK’s fifth biggest supermarket chain, behind Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda and Aldi. Morrisons has an 8.3% share of the grocery market, while Lidl has 8.1%.
