The UK’s leading supermarkets are “lagging far behind” their counterparts in Europe on sustainability goals, including reductions in Scope 3 emissions and moves to shift sales towards plant-based proteins, according to a new report published today.
The Superlist Environment Europe report, by sustainability think tank Questionmark, claims to be the first of its kind. It ranks the actions of 27 major supermarkets to compare progress on environmental and sustainable diet goals.
The report, compiled in association with NGOs WWF Netherlands, ProVeg International and Madre Brava, covers the sustainability commitments of the biggest three supermarkets by share in eight European countries.
The results show Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Asda are far behind German and Dutch retailers, which were described as being far more proactive. For example, supermarkets in the Netherlands are currently urging the government to step in to regulate the sector and provide more incentives for mass adoption of more plant-based proteins.
Tesco finished top of the list of the UK based supermarkets, in 11th place, but was behind German and Dutch supermarkets. None of the UK retailers ranked have followed European pioneers in setting specific goals to increase the share of plant-based proteins in their sales, the report, which is also supported by the Food Foundation, notes.
Tesco was praised for introducing a near-term emissions reduction target across its operations and value chain, and for reporting a ‘protein split’, showing the proportion of proteins it sells that are plant-based and those that are animal-based.
It is also among seven supermarkets in the study that explicitly integrate financial support to suppliers in their climate plan to address indirect emissions.
However, Tesco was criticised for not setting a target for the split and having no published roadmap to translate 2030 targets into “actionable and quantified emissions reduction measures”.
Sainsbury’s, which was ranked 17th in the list, has not reported its scope 3 emissions since 2018/19. The report claims Scope 3 reporting is essential to assess progress against targets. Sainsbury’s also reports its protein split, but has also not yet set a target to rebalance sales towards plant-rich products.
Asda, which is ranked a lowly 22nd of 27 supermarkets, reports its emissions across its operations and value chain. However, its emissions have risen overall since its 2015 baseline, despite a recent decrease.
Despite having a goal to increase the amount of plant-based protein it sells as part of its sustainable and healthy diets plan, it has not set a quantitative target.
Lidl come out on top in the report, beating national incumbents in several countries.
In the UK, Lidl was not included in the list because it was not one of the top three in the market. It has grown plant-based sales by 700% in the past five years and plans to align its sales with the Eat-Lancet Planetary Health Diet by 2050.
Sara Ayech, UK director for Madre Brava, said: “In the UK we buy so much of our food from supermarkets it’s essential that they have robust plans to reduce their emissions.
“Switching a proportion of protein sales from animals to plants would be good for their customers’ health and wallets, good for the planet and good for business. But they’re lagging behind leaders in the Netherlands and Germany.”
Sophia Millar, co-executive director of ProVeg UK, said: “Many UK supermarkets have set bold sustainability goals, but this crucial new report shows that our retail sector is falling behind the rest of Europe. Targets alone are insufficient. We need clear, quantified roadmaps for delivery.”
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