Tesco ‘eco-store’ for Ireland

The company will spend Euro 12.5m on the store and the company claims it will use 45% less energy than its other outlets, saving 420 tonnes in carbon emissions per year, reports Waterford Today.

Tony Keohane, chief executive of Tesco Ireland, told delegates at the Irish Management Institute Conference: “We have been proactively investing and trialling new technologies in our stores across the country and as a result we have developed a more sustainable blueprint for our new buildings.”

Mr Keohane outlined other measures that Tesco is taking to reduce its environmental impact, including using biodiesel to run its distribution fleet and measuring the carbon footprint of 30 Tesco own-brand products.

He said that Ireland has to set an example in cutting carbon emissions, explaining that “reducing Ireland’s carbon footprint by 10m tonnes between now and 2020 will change our lives and the way we behave”.

The Guardian has also reported that Tesco will begin putting carbon-count labels on a variety of products including orange juice, potatoes and washing detergent.

The labels will show the quantity in grams of CO2 put into the atmosphere by their manufacture and distribution.