After World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) urged other retailers to follow Tesco’s example with their ambition to be carbon neutral by 2035, as well as their plans to be carbon neutral across their chain by 2050, ASDA announced its plans for reaching their climate targets.

ASDA’s most recent achievement is having decreased its overall carbon footprint by 7% and it’s operational carbon footprint by 8% in 2022, which is an improvement compared to 2021. This means they have now made a 40% reduction compared to 2015.

They have achieved this through their continued transition of their HGV fleet to biogas and by using lower carbon refrigeration, plus more energy efficient measures across their stores.

ASDA are also continuing in their journey to reduce their emissions, as they have now developed a measurement of Scope 3 emissions, which are emissions produced across its value chain, including from suppliers and the product being sold. They have submitted their Scope 3 target for validation to the Science-Based Targets Initiative, which is a global body that defines, promotes and approves the best way to set targets.

ASDA said that they are hoping to get their Scope 3 target validated later this year, which will result in the retailer having credible targets covering Scope 1, 2 and 3. This will include a specific Scope 3 for emissions originating from forests, land and agriculture.