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Energy and Climate Change mitigation

Climate change is the defining crisis of our time, it’s happening much more quickly than previously anticipated and will have a major impact on our business.

At Asda we have been working to decarbonise our Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions since 2007 and have reduced them by 40% since our 2015 baseline. This has been driven in part by the continued transition of our HGV fleet to biogas and implementing low carbon refrigeration and energy efficiency measures across our stores.

Change in Scope 1 and 2 annual emissions since 2017

We have calculated and reported our emissions in line with the GHG Protocol Corporate Accounting and Reporting standard (revised edition) and emission factors from the UK Governments GHG Conversion factors company reporting 2020 and the Carbon Trust’s internal emission factor data base. The emissions are reported using the financial control approach. The calculations include data from 1st Jan-31st of December each year.

Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi)

We stated our ambition in 2021 to be a net-zero business, establishing a clear roadmap to achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions within our own operations by 2040.

We have built upon this through our commitment, in 2022, to establish a near-term science-based carbon reduction target, approved by the Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi) which should be concluded early 2024, however the implications of Asda’s acquisition of the EG Group’s UK and Ireland operations (announced in June 2023) may impact on this timeline. We aim to publish our ratified near-term science-based target, covering Scopes 1, 2, 3 and FLAG by early 2024.

Our carbon footprint is the quantity of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions that we produce through all our operations. It is split into three groups or ‘Scopes’ by the widely used (GHG) Protocol.

Click here to download the chart below as PDF

Did you know...?

One tonne of carbon looks like...

So how does this all break down?

Roadmap to Net Zero

Our first target was to reduce direct emissions (Scope 1 & 2) by 30% by 2020, compared to a 2007 baseline. We met this ahead of time in 2018 and by 2019 had reduced by 44%, and in 2020 we committed to reduce our direct (Scope 1 and 2) emissions by 50% by 2025 from a 2015 baseline.

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This keeps our emissions well below the 1.5°C target.

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In 2021, we worked with PWC to establish a clear roadmap to achieving net zero greenhouse gas emissions within our own operations, as we work towards end-to-end net zero by 2040.

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Click here to view the chart below as PDF

Asda Supplier Sustainability Exchange

Ten years on from the formation of The Asda Sustain & Save Exchange in 2012, our collaborative approach continues to grow and the platform rebranded as the Asda Supplier Sustainability Exchange¹ (SSE). SSE members use the lens of sustainability to find opportunities to become leaner and more environmentally sustainable, and to reduce future costs and risks to supply.

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In 2021 we launched mandatory carbon data requirements for all our own brand suppliers and have worked with our largest carbon emitters on reduction plans. We also asked our top grocery suppliers, by sales volume, to set a carbon reduction target by the end of 2021.

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In 2022 we stepped this on and asked our top suppliers to share their carbon emissions data and their SBTi reduction targets. To date, over 70% of our biggest suppliers² have submitted Scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions reduction targets/plans and over 25% of those have targets approved by the SBTi, with further suppliers awaiting approval. We aim for all Asda suppliers to align their carbon reduction targets with our net zero roadmap.

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¹The Asda Supplier Sustainability Exchange is an online private community for our suppliers to collaborate and share best practice in sustainability and resource efficiency. 

²Asda Carbon Emissions Survey, 2022. Unpublished.