Food retail

We asked our customers what they would like food retailers to do to reduce their emissions and if they would be prepared to pay more for their shopping. They told us they would be happy to pay around £5 more for the cost of an average shop if the food retailer was taking action to reduce its emissions and using its website to tell customers about the measures it was taking.

Below we have listed the actions that customers would like food retailers to carry out now and in the future. We have also calculated the top five actions that will enable a food retailer to cut its energy bills and reduce carbon emissions by up to 25%.

What customers would like food retailers to do now

• Stop using plastic bags
• Install electric vehicle charge points
• Sell locally sourced produce
• Introduce electronic receipts
• Reduce packaging or use recycled packaging.

What customers would like food retailers to do in future

• Install solar panels
• Sell wonky veg
• Use electric delivery vehicles
• Use efficient, eco-friendly appliances
• Install LED lighting
• Turn down heating and air-conditioning
• Install self-closing doors.

What food retailers can do to reduce carbon emissions by up to 25%

• Upgrade to the most efficient refrigeration systems
• Replace lighting with LEDs and fit motion sensors
• Install solar panels (roof and canopy parking)
• Install electric vehicle charge points
• Introduce carbon literacy training for colleagues.

Sainsbury’s switch to LED lighting cuts energy consumption by 58%

In 2017 Sainsbury’s pledged to adopt LED lighting across all of its stores through a partnership with Current, the smart buildings division of General Electric.

The deal will see 250,000 new LED fixtures introduced in the supermarket upgrade covering more than 450 stores by 2020. This will make Sainsbury’s the first grocer to power all its sites entirely by LED lighting, cutting its energy consumption by 58% and carbon emissions by 3.4% a year. Find out more.

Electricity North West makes electric vehicle charge points accessible for all employees

98 new electric vehicle (EV) charge points have been installed at our sites for company and private vehicle use to add to the 15 we already had in place, at a cost of around £140,000. This includes 28 fast chargers (7/11kW) and 71 slow chargers (3kW/13amp sockets). 

Research suggests that the charging behaviour of current EV users is to charge their EV for three hours every two days. Therefore most of the chargers we will install are slow (suitably designed and rated outdoor 13amp sockets) which will meet the charging needs of the majority of our colleagues. Find out more.

To find out more about cutting energy bills for your business, download our guide.

A guide to reducing carbon emissions for food retailers