Marks & Spencer has announced projects to support its journey to net zero by 2040.
With targets now revalidated by the SBTi, M&S has a clear glide path to becoming net zero across the entire supply chain by 2040. The biggest challenge in achieving these targets - a full ten years earlier than the Government's UK-wide strategy – is in the supply chain, where 95% of emissions sit. To meet these targets, M&S created the Plan A Accelerator Fund to find innovative lower lower-carbon solutions through partnerships within the M&S supply chain.
This year, M&S is funding projects looking at innovative ways to reduce emissions from agriculture.
One trial already underway aims to deliver bigger, better British strawberries – a customer favorite and one of the products M&S Food is famous for. Innovative varieties such as M&S King, White Pearl and Red Diamond strawberries have launched in recent seasons and more recently the M&S Strawberries & Crème sandwich has become a viral sensation. But there is a secret behind M&S's strawberry success – combining AI technology with bumble bees.
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Behind the scenes, M&S has been working with a small group of growers to trial precision pollination. It's an innovative farming technique that monitors and enhances pollinator activity to deliver more fruit and higher quality berries whilst improving biodiversity. Using smart listening technology to monitor bumblebee activity in real time, four farms have been able to take targeted, nature-friendly action to support pollination in areas where levels are lower. This could include introducing more bees, changing the location of bee boxes or adding additional plants to naturally attract pollinators to specific areas. The four farms trialling this technique have seen bee activity almost double, which in these early stages has shown to improve consistency, meaning an even spread of strawberries across the trial area. This could mean the action has delivered more strawberries or a more consistent size of strawberry. Further data will be tracked throughout the season to understand the impact and benefit of the trial fully.
Victoria McKenzie-Gould, Corporate Affairs and ESG Director at M&S, commented: "M&S's success as an own-brand retailer is borne from deep relationships with our supplier partners which supports a long-term approach to investment in innovation and quality, and a shared belief in the value of doing the right thing. This same approach is helping us to become a Net Zero business by 2040 through our annual £1m Plan A Accelerator Fund with which we fund new and small-scale or untested solutions in collaboration with our supply base."
Future projects will look at growing Net Zero wheat for potential use in animal feed and bakery products.
For more information:
Marks & Spencer
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