Tesco chief says "We must go green"

Tesco Chief Executive Sir Terry Leahy is given a full page in the Guardian Environment Supplement today (page 9). Full article here.

Highlights from the article include [with our comments in these square brackets]:

"only by acting now on cutting emissions will we save money in the future" [not sure who the "we" who is saving money here is - Tesco or the customer]
"Get the consumer onside and the task of tackling climate change becomes possible" [surely that should be get the retailer onside!]
"I trust and listen to consumers" [good - presumably he will be trusing and listening to the people of Seaton too]
"Tesco's core purpose is to create value for customers to earn their lifetime loyalty" [we thought it was to make money for their shareholders]
"We aim to halve emissions from our group's stores and distribution centres by 2020" [we think, to be fair, that's what most retailers are aiming for and what the government has said they must have - at current energy prices they can't afford to do anything else]
"We are saving energy in our stores by hanging curtains on freezer doors, better insulation, low-energy lighting and new refrigeration systems" [common sense really if you want to save money - all retailers are doing this, not just Tesco]
"We are reducting the number of empty trips our vans make by ensuring they are fully loaded" [someone should be asking why vans were not going out fully loaded in the first place]
"We are saving water - next year our Chinese business will begin rainwater harvesting and using grey water for things such as washing cars and toilets." [good heavens - waiting to do this in China next year - there are people who have been doing this in the UK for the last 10 years or more]
"In Thailand we aim to plant 9m trees" [how about of a few of them in Seaton]
"We are developing a label that will tell customers the size of a product's carbon footprint" [how long will it take to develop the label?]
"If retailers help customers, customers will go green" [if customers help retailers, retailers will go green]
"Billions of purchases send a signal to cut carbon right down the supply chain" [how many of those billions of purchases are REALLY necessary?]

There is absolutely no doubt that rising fossil fuel prices, higher manufacturing costs and lower spending power will be impacting on all retail outlets and forcing them to go green(er) - when green means cutting costs and making more profit it makes total sense for a business. Until now it didn't really matter - energy costs were a minor fraction of the costs for big business, but now energy costs are really biting they are all hitching themselves to the "green" bandwaggon. But there is a LONG way to go yet!

Look below in the comments for the official Tesco reply - it won't take long to arrive here!