M&S Marches Towards Achieving Net Zero Emission 2040 Target

Global apparel retailer Marks & Spencer (M&S) has announced several new investments in pioneering projects, funded through its Plan A Accelerator Fund, to help achieve its net zero target by 2040 goals.

“M&S’s industry-leading, fully integrated sustainability plan ‘Plan A’ was launched in 2007, well before most mainstream businesses were thinking about sustainability,” the UK garment retailer said in a press release.

The brand’s strength in supplier partnerships and innovation position it well to drive big changes through collaboration with suppliers and partners, recognising that no one can deliver net zero on their own.

The retailer has launched a £1 million Plan A Accelerator Fund and is working in partnership with long-standing and new suppliers to take rapid action towards net zero through a series of innovation projects.

The Food, Clothing & Home and Retail teams at M&S are working with suppliers and partners to identify opportunities across some of the most challenging emissions areas, including agriculture, livestock and textiles.

One of the first projects supported by the fund is a first of its kind trial asking customers to donate their unwearable clothes to Oxfam, alongside wearable clothing.

These unwearable items will be 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.

Elsewhere in the business, a new trial will use AI data to predict a store’s optimal heating, ventilation and air conditioning controls to reduce energy consumption.

Trialled across six stores, the aim is to reduce HVAC costs by up to 30 percent and when rolled out across the M&S estate, this could save an estimated 2,000 tons of carbon and around £3m annually.

Separately, in its Clothing & Home business, the retailer is also piloting the viability of shoe recycling.

M&S also announced a £1 million investment in a change to the diet of the pasture-grazed cows in its milk pool to reduce the amount of methane produced in a cow’s stomach and released into the atmosphere.

Working with all 40 M&S Select Dairy Farmers in its unique milk pool, this UK first-to-market initiative will remove a projected 11,000 tons of greenhouse gas emissions from the atmosphere annually.