Sustainability stats: This week in numbers

It was a week of sustainability news that saw supermarkets step up their circular economy ambitions; fears of 'Blackout Britain' allayed by the National Grid, and natural capital finally being taken seriously.


On the supermarket front, M&S took steps to reduce its excess leftovers by announcing a nationwide delivery scheme to pass on surplus food to local food charities. Waitrose has also gone to lengths to cut its waste production by creating egg boxes out of ryegrass.

Meanwhile, natural capital hit the headlines this week with two big announcements reminding us just how valuable Mother Nature is. Firstly, Aecom announced that businesses and landowners are missing out on huge amounts of potential capital by ignoring the ground they walk on. Environment secretary followed on from these claims, calling for nature to be classified as national assets.

And as the smoke begins to settle on the VW emissions scandal, a host of carmakers are now looking towards a sustainable future. Toyota announced a hugely ambitious set of challenges to meet by 2050. Not content in just the EV market Tesla has branched out, lending a hand to builders in California. (And look out for an announcement from Volvo later today!)

At the end of the week, the spotlight turned to ‘Blackout Britain’ fears, with the much-anticipated National Grid Winter Outlook concluding that operational supply will be “manageable” over the coming months. But this hasn’t been let off the green hook just yet, as the Climate Change Committee has called for more emission reductions to be introduced.

As always click on the pictures below to read the full story…

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Matt Mace

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