Climate Change

We recognise climate change is one of the biggest environmental threats the world faces and one which could pose particular challenges to a number of our supply chains. As a business we impact the climate in both our own operations and supply chain. This includes greenhouse gas emissions from electricity, refrigeration, agriculture and transport.

In 2019 Booker became the first company to achieve four certifications to the Carbon Trust Standard for the second time. These standards recognise on going reductions in 1) carbon emissions, 2) water use and 3) waste reduction as well as the achievement of sending 4) zero waste to landfill.

Booker are the only wholesaler to hold the Carbon Trust Standard for twelve years which externally verifies a continued reduction in emissions across that period. Almost 14,000 tonnes of CO2e saved in twelve years is the equivalent to a family car being driven for almost 44 million miles.

Initiatives that have helped us achieve this include:

• LED lighting now installed in over 130 business centres and four distribution centres saving enough power to run 73 average Booker branches for a year
• Telematics are installed in all branch delivery vehicles. We use this to capture driving data such as speed, MPG, idling, harsh braking, over revving and acceleration.
• In the last two years we have used rail to transfer product from Wellingborough to Scotland. This saves 38 vehicle trips a month, over 17,000 kms and 5,510 ltrs of fuel. That is equivalent to over 192 tCO2e saved a year.
• We have saved 128 vehicle journeys by using a double deck trailer between two distribution sites. That is almost 52,000 miles, 29,000 hrs of fuel which is equivalent to 78 tCOTe
• Sales floor freezers are set by the manufacturer at -28C. Following trials we now have over 2,000 freezers across the business set at -22C, this has saved over 600,000 kwh
• We have solar PV installation at Wimbledon and this delivers 23% of the branch electricity.
• We have installed voltage optimisation in 120 sites, resulting in a reduction in consumption of 8%.

As part of the Tesco Group, Booker are included in the science-based climate change targets covering operations and supply chain. Tesco became the first big company globally to set climate change ambitions for our own operations, in line with the ambitious 1.5 degree trajectory recommended in the Paris Climate Accord. Our supply chain climate change targets are in line with a 2 degree trajectory.