Every Little Hurts? – Tesco Greenwash Exposed
To coincide with Tesco’s sponsoring of National Climate Week, Climate Rush, (a suffragette-inspired environmental action group), altered approximately 30 stores in central London to highlight the company’s hypocrisy on climate change. The fascias now read TESCO2.
Whilst keen to support any business that cuts carbon, Climate Rush feels that there are some inconvenient truths that make Tesco an inappropriate sponsor for such an awareness-raising event.
• Since they started monitoring them, Tesco’s carbon emissions have risen ever year bar one
• From 2009 to 2010, during which time emissions fell in the UK and elsewhere, Tesco’s carbon emissions increased by 3.7%
• When measuring their “Direct Carbon Footprint”, which is the figure they report on,Tesco ignores international freight, production of goods , waste disposal and consumption and disposal of Goods.
• Despite impressive sounding claims like being a “zero carbon business” by 2050 , Tesco does not give itself interim targets to ensure it achieves this. This differs from major international competitors such as Walmart .
National Climate Week runs from 21st to 27th March, and aims to showcase real-life examples of businesses and communities fighting climate change.