Our carbon footprint

1. Primary distribution: transportation of products from suppliers to DCs. This includes emissions which arise from fronthauling (where a store delivery is made by a vehicle en route to a supplier and emissions from Tesco-controlled transportation of goods from European suppliers into the UK).
2. Trunking: transportation of products between DCs.
3. Secondary distribution: transportation of products from DCs to stores. Emissions from backhaul are also included (where stock is collected from a supplier while a lorry is returning from a store to a DC).

We have calculated our carbon footprint according to the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Protocol, which is the internationally recognised standard for corporate carbon reporting, and guidelines published by the UK Government (Defra and DECC) in 2011.

We include the following greenhouse gases (GHG) in our direct carbon footprint: carbon dioxide (CO₂) and a range of fluorinated gases (often used as refrigerants). Emissions from all of these gases are expressed as CO₂ equivalent (CO₂e) emissions.

Our carbon data is collected by managers in each of the countries in which we operate and entered into an internet-based reporting tool that has been designed specifically for our carbon footprinting process. The tool calculates CO₂e emissions for each country and Tesco Group as a whole as well as performance against our Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and a number of other measures.

We have followed an 'operational control approach' to help us determine when to include emissions within our direct carbon footprint - reporting emissions from operations where we have full authority to introduce and implement operating policies.  In the case of distribution we have gone beyond this operational control approach, including emissions from distribution provided by third party contractors, where this has been arranged by Tesco.

As in previous years, we have updated the GHG conversion factors we use to reflect the most recent UK Government guidance. We have also recalculated our emissions from previous years on the same basis so that performance from year-to-year can be assessed on a like-for-like basis.

Carbon emissions included within Tesco’s 2011/12 direct carbon footprint

The diagram above shows the boundary of the Tesco direct carbon footprint. We have defined our direct carbon footprint as including GHG emissions from:

Tesco PLC Property, including:

• gas, electricity and other fuel consumption in our stores, distribution centres (DCs) and offices globally;
• gas, electricity and other fuel consumption in buildings operated by our major subsidiaries globally (including Tesco Mobile, Tesco Bank, One Stop, Dobbies, dunnhumby and Blinkbox); and
• emissions from refrigerant leakage.

Distribution, including:

• fuel consumption arising from transportation of products from DCs to stores in Tesco and third party vehicles ('secondary distribution'), including journeys where stock is collected from a supplier while returning from store to DC ('backhauling');
• fuel consumption arising from distribution from suppliers to DCs in the UK ('primary distribution') including where a store delivery is made by a Tesco vehicle en route to a supplier ('fronthauling');
• fuel consumption arising from distribution between Tesco DCs in Tesco vehicles, including from the Central European regional DC (in Slovakia) to our Central European country DCs;
• fuel consumed by third party hauliers transporting: Tesco products from suppliers to stores (where arranged by Tesco in the UK); transporting products between Tesco DCs; and transporting products from DCs to Tesco stores; fuel consumption arising from Tesco home delivery; and
• emissions resulting from refrigerant leakage from refrigerated lorries transporting products from DCs to stores, and Tesco home delivery vans in the UK.

Business travel by our employees, where arranged through Tesco’s travel booking systems, including travel by:

• air;
• rail; and
• car (including employees travelling by company car, short term hire car and taxis). 

CO₂e emissions excluded from Tesco’s 2011/2 direct carbon footprint

Tesco Japan

Operations in Japan were officially discontinued in August 2011 and therefore have not been included in the Group 2011/12 carbon footprint. Historical group carbon emissions data in Tesco’s Corporate Responsibility Review 2012 and website have also been restated with emissions from its Japanese business excluded so that comparisons can be made.

Tesco Japan’s carbon emissions historically made up 6% of Tesco’s annual group carbon emissions.

Other omitted data

For a small number of areas actual data were unavailable and reasonable estimates could not be produced. The reporting and assurance processes have concluded that these areas are not of significance to the carbon footprint data overall. Tesco will continue to improve the quality of its data and will work to obtain actual data for these sources in future. These include:

• refrigerant gas leakage from lorries delivering products from distribution centres to stores in Malaysia, Thailand and Hungary;
• district heating use in 16 Tesco China stores;
• emissions from franchised Tesco Zabka stores in the CzechRepublic. Tesco acquired Zabka stores in April 2011 and they have and will continue to be run as franchises. Tesco will work to obtain CO₂ emissions data for Zabka stores to include within Tesco’s 2012/13 carbon footprint;
• emissions from Tesco’s International Sourcing Offices;
• employee business travel by car for India and Malaysia;
• short-term hire car and taxis for non-UK countries;
• business travel not booked through Tesco approved travel providers but claimed through the expenses system. 

Tesco Mobile services are delivered using O2's mobile network infrastructure. Emissions related to this network infrastructure are not included in Tesco’s carbon footprint as it not owned or controlled by Tesco and these emissions are reported within O2’s carbon footprint.

Restatements

Tesco’s 2010/11 carbon footprint has also been recalculated with more accurate data which has become available since the 2010/11 Corporate Responsibility report was published. The most significant of these is the restating of emissions from the transportation of products from suppliers to DCs ('primary distribution') in the UK in 2010/11.

Independent external assurance

Independent external assurance of our global direct carbon footprint (expressed as total direct carbon dioxide equivalent emissions and percentage breakdown by emissions source) for 2011/2012 has been provided by sustainability consultancy ERM Limited. Their full assurance statement is reproduced here.