2021/22 OUR SUSTAINABILITY APPROACH - Taking action to help save our planet - East of England Co-op
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OUR SUSTAINABILITY APPROACH: 2021/22 INTRODUCTION 1
OUR
SUSTAINABILITY
APPROACH
2021/22
Taking action
to help save
our planet
OUR SUSTAINABILITY APPROACH: 2021/22 INTRODUCTION 2
“[Sustainability is]
development that meets
the needs of the present
without compromising the
ability of future generations
to meet their own needs.”
Bruntland Report (Our Common Future 1987)
We believe being sustainable
means looking at every part of our
business and culture. It’s about being
accountable for our impact on the
planet and supporting our colleagues
and communities to thrive. It’s about
how we source our food and the
standards we set ourselves, being
accountable to our 260,000 members,
and ensuring we are creating a legacy
for future generations.
Our strategy is intended to be a ‘living’
process, subject to continual review
to ensure that it remains current and
evolves alongside our Co-op and the
wider needs of our planet.
OUR SUSTAINABILITY APPROACH: 2021/22 INTRODUCTION 3
DEFINING OUR PRIORITIES “The match between SDGs and
Our Co-op is a large and diverse business. This co-operative values and
presents both opportunities and challenges. Formed
in 2019, a Sustainability Group, made up of colleagues principles is close. Further,
with different areas of expertise from across our what co-operatives bring is not
business, work together to design and implement ideas
that will have a positive impact on sustainability and just vision, but the ability to
provide social and environmental value within our local
communities and across the globe.
live out that vision in practical,
commercial reality.”
ADOPTING SUSTAINABLE Ed Mayo, former Secretary General of
DEVELOPMENT GOALS Co-operatives UK
There are a number of recognised models for tracking
and reporting on sustainability. Closely matching key
co-operative values and principles, we have chosen to
use the Sustainable Development Goals Compass.
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were
adopted by all United Nations Member States in
2015. Also known as the Global Goals, they aim to
end poverty, protect the planet and ensure that all
people enjoy peace and prosperity by 2030. We’re a
responsible, local business, but it’s important that we
play our part in supporting the global sustainability
agenda, answering the SDGs universal call to action to
meet the worlds biggest challenges.
WHERE WE ARE NOW
We’ve used the SDG Compass to assist in defining
our priorities.
By understanding the impact we are having now,
we’ve identified six of the seventeen goals that we
feel best reflect our Co-op, creating Business
Indicators (BIs) and measurement methods.
Achievement against the SDGs will be monitored
and reported annually on our website at
www.eastofengland.coop.
THE FUTURE
Looking ahead, the Sustainability Group will continue
to work together to implement our strategy. This will
include raising awareness of sustainability issues with
our colleagues, members, customers and communities.
We will also continue to aim to reduce our energy use
and CO2 emissions, keeping engaged with our suppliers
and the wider industry to make best use of new
technologies and innovations.
SDG:
ZERO HUNGER
OUR SUSTAINABILITY APPROACH: 2021/22 ZERO HUNGER 4
SUSTAINABLE
DEVELOPMENT GOAL:
ZERO HUNGER
E n d h u n g e r, a c h ie v e
food secur it y and
imp ro ved nutr it ion
and p ro mote
sustainable agricu lt u re will
g focus on he lping to delive r food justice in our region. We
Our Co-op has a stron tio na l organisations to understand ho
w we
sel y with loc al and na
continue to work clo t co ntribute to the goal of ‘Zero Hu
nger’.
d supp ort initiatives tha
can best design an
82,000
DONATED
TO LOCAL
SUPPORTING FOODBANKS FOODBANKS
Our local foodbanks are dedicated to ensuring IN 2020
members of our community don’t go hungry and we
want to do as much as possible to support them.
In 2020 we donated over £82,000 to local foodbanks
as part of our Community Cares Fund.
We launched a foodbank donation gift card in our Food
stores in December 2020, which can be bought as a
present for loved ones. When customers purchase the
gift card, the £5 they pay is donated to the foodbank
connected to the store they purchase it in. The card
can then be given to loved ones to explain a donation
has been made on their behalf. So far, we have sold
1,370, resulting in a donation of £6,850.OUR SUSTAINABILITY APPROACH: 2021/22 ZERO HUNGER 5
JOINING THE FIGHT TO END
CHILD FOOD POVERTY
No child should have to go hungry and through our
work to tackle and understand food poverty in our
region we have seen the effect that food insecurity
has had on local parents and children.
1,370 FOODBANK DONATION Last year, we joined Marcus Rashford’s Child Food
GIFT CARDS SOLD SINCE Poverty Taskforce. As part of our commitment to
help end child hunger we wrote to local MPs last
DECEMBER 2020, MAKING September, encouraging them to support struggling
6,850 FOR LOCAL FOODBANKS families and call upon the Government to act by
increasing the value of Healthy Start vouchers.
Whilst we waited for the Government to act, we
An important part of our support for foodbanks is topped up the value of Healthy Start vouchers in
understanding the best ways we can support them. our stores by £1.15 from £3.10 to £4.25.
On 17-18 November 2020 we ran a virtual Food In April 2021 the Government increased the value
Justice Conference where participants discussed of Healthy Start Vouchers to £4.25 and, feeling
the challenges ahead for foodbanks and other that we must go further to support struggling
organisations striving for food justice, to understand families, we decided to top up the value in our
how we can further help reduce food poverty. stores to £5.
TACKLING FOOD WASTE WITH
OUR GUIDE TO DATING
In December 2017 we led the fight against food waste,
becoming the first major retailer to sell edible food
beyond its ‘Best Before’ date for just 10p.
Both reducing food waste and educating customers on
the difference between 'Best Before' and 'Use by' dates,
our Guide to Dating has proven to be a huge success.
Starting out with tins, packet and dry goods, frozen
and fresh lines were added in 2018, resulting in more
than 350 tonnes of edible food being saved from going
to landfill in the first year alone.
Last year, around £9 million worth of food would have
gone to waste (around 3% of our total sales) without
our initiative to reduce food waste. But through Guide AROUND
to Dating, along with our ‘reduced to clear’ policy and
donations to charity, we managed to reduce this to 0.8%. 6.5 MILLION
When it comes to inedible food waste with a 'Use
by' date, 100% of this is sent to anaerobic digestion,
WORTH OF FOOD
converting it into biogas and compost fertiliser. SAVED LAST YEAR
SDG:
QUALITY EDUCATIONOUR SUSTAINABILITY APPROACH: 2021/22 QUALITY EDUCATION 6
SUSTAINABLE
DEVELOPMENT GOAL:
QUALITY EDUCATION
E nsu re inclusive and
equ it able qual it y
education and
p ro mote lifelong
learning op po rt un it ies for all
lls is key to
d eq uippin g our colleagu es with the right knowledge and ski
Raising awareness an
t ou r business an d promo ting it within our communities.
ghou
integrating sustainability throu
HIGH QUALITY TRAINING APPRENTICESHIPS
Last year our colleagues took part in a total of Since its launch in 2016, our Apprenticeship
36,536 training hours. That’s an average of 16 programme has helped more than 50 colleagues
hours per full time colleague. to learn new skills, gain a qualification and
Our training is almost entirely delivered by our develop in their roles while earning a wage. We
dedicated Learning and Development team, now have 10 different types of apprenticeship
who are focused on creating relevant, high across our business, ranging from leadership, to
quality training. HR, accountancy, and administration.
We constantly analyse training data to help us The pandemic has presented some new and
identify trends and remove any obstacles so unprecedented challenges, but we adapted our
that all of our colleagues can continue to have learning programme, harnessing technology and
adapting our delivery methods to create a more
equal access to outstanding training.
blended and flexible model. Learning for all
apprentices has continued remotely, adopting
video calling and virtual classrooms instead of
traditional face-to face approaches.
36,5 36 G 10 DIFFERENT TYPES
OF APPRENTICESHIP OFFERED
UE TRAININ
COLLEAG SDG:
HOURS IN 2020 GENDER EQUALITYOUR SUSTAINABILITY APPROACH: 2021/22 GENDER EQUALITY 7
SUSTAINABLE
DEVELOPMENT GOAL:
GENDER EQUALITY
Achieve gender
e q u a l it y a n d e m p o w e r
all women and girls
nities.
d to be ing an inc lusive organ isation as diverse as our commu
We are committe to realise real change, but we’re de
dicated
t the re is mo re to be do ne
We recognise tha d girls across
gend er eq ua lity an d con tinuing to empower all women an
to achieving
our co-operative.
FEMALE REPRESENTATION
As a co-operative society, our values guide how
we operate as a business. We are committed
to fair and ethical recruitment, eliminating
discrimination and making sure equal
opportunities are available to everyone.
We’re proud that over half of our Board directors
and store managers are women and our latest
data shows that in the 2019/20 financial year,
46% of those promoted were female.
We’re also one of more than 30 local
organisations that have signed the
66%
Suffolk Chamber of Commerce’s
pledge to address gender balance
in the workforce.
OF ALL COLLEAGUES
ARE FEMALEOUR SUSTAINABILITY APPROACH: 2021/22 GENDER EQUALITY 8
Women across our co-operative:
57% 12 OUT 46%
OF MANAGERS
OF 16
BOARD MEMBERS
OF PROMOTIONS
LAST YEAR
GENDER PAY GAP
We believe in a fair and ethical approach to pay,
including that men and women are paid equally for The difference between the hourly
performing equivalent jobs within our organisation. pay rate between men and women
Our Co-op reports its Gender Pay Gap annually in
in the organisation is expressed as
accordance with statutory regulations and guidance.
We’re realistic that it will take a series of long-term
two averages, which at the most
actions to realise real change, but we’re committed recent snapshot date of 5 April
to improving our Gender Pay Gap and attracting 2021 were:
and progressing people from diverse backgrounds
throughout our Co-op. Mean: 18.74%
Median: 3.11%
Read our full Gender Pay Report.
SDG:
DECENT WORK AND ECONOMIC GROWTHOUR SUSTAINABILITY APPROACH: 2021/22 DECENT WORK AND ECONOMIC GROWTH 9
SUSTAINABLE
DEVELOPMENT GOAL:
DECENT WORK AND
ECONOMIC GROWTH
Pro mote sustained,
inclusive, and
sustainable economic
g ro wth, full and
p ro d u c t iv e e m p l o y m e n t
and decent wo rk for all
ort ing the co mm un ities we serve is deep rooted in our
As a local co-operative, su pp e
inable eco no mi c growth an d employment we will continu
DNA. To promote susta ts
invest in our comm unities through local development projec
to re-
es.
and supporting local business
SUPPORTING LOCAL
43.1M
SPENT WITH LOCAL
BUSINESSES AND SUPPLIERS BUSINESSES AND
Wherever possible we try to source local suppliers and SUPPLIERS
businesses to undertake projects across our Co-op. In
the last year we’ve spent £43.1 million with businesses
and suppliers in our local area.
Our Co-op has a £110 million investment property Over the coming year we will be measuring
portfolio of 500 properties throughout East Anglia, the positive impact of our new and refurbished
including just under 250 residential units. A key trading outlets and property development
focus of our investment property portfolio is bringing projects on employment within our trading area to
regeneration and jobs to the local area. understand the difference we can make.OUR SUSTAINABILITY APPROACH: 2021/22 DECENT WORK AND ECONOMIC GROWTH 10
SOURCED LOCALLY
Our Sourced Locally initiative was founded back
in 2007 and has since generated millions of
pounds for the region and helped to create and
protect hundreds of local jobs.
We currently work with over 100 supplier partners
across Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex who stock our
stores with over 2,500 different products.
The key to the success of Sourced Locally is our
unique relationship with each of our supplier
SAFETY AND WELLBEING
partners. We want to make sure our producers The safety and wellbeing of our colleagues
are treated as equal partners and that their is of the upmost importance and we invest
businesses have a sustainable future. significant resources into ensuring
they have a safe and secure
working environment.
OVER Over the past year
100 we’ve recorded:
local suppliers
13.8
ACCIDENTS PER
100 COLLEAGUES
ACCIDENT INCIDENT
RATE (AIR) OF
25
(PER 100 FULL TIME
EQUIVALENT EMPLOYEES)
OVER
2,500
different local products
RIDDOR INCIDENT RATE OF
0.28
PER 100 COLLEAGUES
SDG:
INDUSTRY, INNOVATION
AND INFRASTRUCTUREOUR SUSTAINABILITY APPROACH: 2021/22 INDUSTRY, INNOVATION AND INFRASTRUCTURE 11
SUSTAINABLE
DEVELOPMENT GOAL:
INDUSTRY, INNOVATION,
AND INFRASTRUCTURE
Build resilient
inf ra s t r u c t u re , p ro m o t e
inclu s iv e a n d s u s t a in a b l e
industrialisation and
foster innovation siness that
itt ed to un dertaking deve lopment projects across our bu
We are comm our local area.
r bu ilding s sustainable an d contribute to sustainability in
will keep ou
OUR SOLAR PANELS
GENERATED ENOUGH
RENEWABLE ENERGY ELECTRICITY TO POWER
We are expanding our on-site renewable AN AVERAGE UK HOUSE
energy generation. Currently we have solar
panels installed on the roof of our head FOR OVER 19 YEARS.
office and across three of our stores.
Last year these solar panels generated enough
electricity to power an average UK house for
over 19 years and saved around 16 tonnes of
ELECTRIC VEHICLE
CO2e emissions. CHARGING POINTS
94% of the energy that is generated by our solar With a growing number of electric cars taking to our
panels is used on-site and the remaining 6% is roads, we've introduced 10 Electric Vehicle Charging
exported onto the national grid. stations at our stores, branches, and head office.
Over the past year we’ve been working to establish This year, we’re planning to expand our electric
a partnership which will see unproductive roof charging stations. We’ll be installing chargers at 14
space used for solar generation, powering the site more branches this year and on top of that, we’ve
and significantly reducing the use of grid electricity. identified 40 further locations for future installations.
SDG: CLIMATE CHANGEOUR SUSTAINABILITY APPROACH: 2021/22 CLIMATE CHANGE 12
SUSTAINABLE
DEVELOPMENT GOAL:
CLIMATE CHANGE
Take u rg ent action
to combat climate
c ha n g e a n d it s im pa c ts
priorities
bo n em issions an d im pro vin g our energy efficiency are top
Reducing our car s to power our
’re com mi tted to using energy from sustainable source
for our Co-op. We
ce an d de live r ou r ser vices to our members and customers.
stores, branches and head offi
CARBON CHARTER AWARDS
This year we were incredibly pleased to receive eight
Carbon Charter Awards for our work to reduce emissions
in our stores.
The Carbon Charter Awards recognise the steps taken by
small and medium-sized businesses in Suffolk, Norfolk
and Essex, to reduce their carbon emissions and support
the local environment.
100%
Having undergone renovation, the panel were particularly
impressed with our commitment to reduce emissions
and effective waste management, as well as our four-bin
recycling system, 100% renewably generated electricity
OF OUR ELE
IS FROM RE CTRICITY
and use of LED lighting.
We also encourage our local suppliers and producers NEWA
to apply for the Carbon Charter, offering practical and SOURCES BLE
financial support to apply for accreditation. Over the past
year we’ve supported 10 of our local suppliers to renew
or receive accreditation.
WE’VE RECEIVED EIGHT CARBON
CHARTER AWARDS IN THE LAST YEAROUR SUSTAINABILITY APPROACH: 2021/22 CLIMATE CHANGE 13
REDUCING OUR EMISSIONS
Over the past year we have reduced our electricity
consumption by 1% and gas by 27% (compared to
previous year) by investing in our properties and
equipment. This included the retrofit of doors to
nearing 90 refrigerators increasing their efficiency,
the refurbishment of three of our Food stores, and
the ongoing installation of LED lighting at our head
office, Wherstead Park.
Upgrading our refrigerators, removing older more
damaging refrigerant gases, and replacing them with
modern equivalents has also helped to significantly
reduce our CO2e emissions. In total we have WE’VE INVESTED IN
managed to decrease our CO2e emissions by 25% REFRIGERATOR
since last year. UPGRADES,
Entering into an integrated supply chain, following INCREASING SOME LOCAL SUP
PLIERS RECORDE
the closure of our Distribution Centre in 2019, has
contributed to a fall in gas and transport emissions,
EFFICIENCY
ACROSS OUR
90% REDUCTION DA
IN DISTRIBUTION
reducing Scope One and Two emissions by around FOOD STORES -RELATED
TRAVEL WITH OUR NE
9%, and we continue to purchase our electricity INTEGRATED SUP W
from REGO (Renewable Energy Guarantees of Origin) PLY
CHAIN
backed renewable sources.
WE CONTINUE TO PURCHASE
ELECTRICITY FROM WE’VE ACHIEVED A
RENEWABLE SOURCES
With the exception of electricity from public Electric 25%
REDUCTION
Vehicle Charging Points (< 1%), all of the electricity we
use is from renewable sources.
This has resulted in a decrease in our emissions of 8,605
tCO2e. That’s the same as the annual emissions (from in CO2e emissions
energy use) of over 1,500 average UK homes.
ELECTRICITY NATURAL GAS GAS OIL KEROSENE TRANSPORT FUGITIVE TOTAL
REFRIGERANT GAS
2019/20 9,498.20 513.64 209.12 15.24 1,403.14 5,219.00 16,858.33
2020/21 8,605.14 376.22 24.00 11.89 517.37** 3,137.32 12,671.94OUR SUSTAINABILITY APPROACH: 2021/22 INTRODUCTION 14
OUR SUSTAINABILITY APPROACH: 2021/22 eastofengland.coop
/eastofenglandcoop
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