Better for the planet

Our progress so far

Key: FY - Financial Year; CY - Calendar Year

Our targets to contribute towards a nature positive future

A nature-positive world is one where “there is more biodiversity globally in 2030 than there was in 2020” (IUCN, 2020, Global Goal for Nature, 2020).

Our current targets beneath this ambition are timebound, ambitious, and focus on how we are contributing to a nature-positive world. We reference under this ambition existing targets which are instrumental in achieving a nature-positive future, such as achieving net zero emissions to limit the impacts of climate change on nature. Crucially, our targets also extend to include nature impacts beyond our direct operations. We aim to achieve the following:

• Ensure our own brand products are deforestation and conversion (DCF) free by 2025 – with a cut-off date of 2020*
• Support multi-year investments to transform Production Landscapes and restore areas of high nature value. For example, in soy production landscapes in Brazil, palm oil plantations in Indonesia and produce production landscapes in Peru.
• Net zero emissions in own operations by 2035 and reduce value chain GHG emissions by 30% by 2030, achieving net zero emissions in Scope 3 by 2050
• Minimise the use of water in our own operations, driving towards water neutral by 2040
• Source 50% of UK fresh food from areas of sustainable water management and improve water quality and availability in 20 sourcing areas by 2030 (aligned with The Courtauld Commitment Water Roadmap 2030)
• Reduce the aggregate water footprint of new textile products sold by 30% (aligned with Textiles 2030)
• Reduce food waste by 50% by 2030
• All our key raw materials and ingredients have responsible sourcing roadmaps embedded within our supply chains by 2025*
• Support the expansion of circular economy supply chains through our recycling approach
• Eliminate peat in compost sold by Sainsbury’s by 2024

*We are publicly reporting on our % of key materials certified to an independent standard. For further information on our performance please see our Plan For Better report.

These targets will be reported on regularly and transparently. They will also be reviewed at appropriate intervals (at least every three years) in line with progress and developments in this space.

Our approach 

We recognise that to contribute to a nature positive future, we must ensure our policies, practices and strategies within our business operations, as well as our supply chains, drive credible action to halt and reverse nature’s decline by 2030. Our approach to this ambition therefore includes the following:

• Assessment and Materiality. A critical starting point is for us to understand our relationships with nature, including our most material impacts and dependencies, as well as the levers for system change that will enable us to prioritise action to protect and restore nature. We have various approaches to assessment and materiality, including a recent cross-commodity saliency assessment, and the piloting of an in-house environmental risk tool.
• Mitigating negative impact and pursuing regeneration in our own operations. We are committed to considering nature in our own operations, including work to enhance the landscapes around our stores such as maintaining Bee Hotels across our store estate, reducing water usage (our target is to be water neutral in our operations by 2040) and staying ahead of legislation such as Biodiversity Net Gain for our new site developments.
• Collaboration. No single business will achieve a nature positive outcome by acting alone, since nature challenges do not recognise business or geographical boundaries. We work closely with our peers, suppliers, government, and other key stakeholders on shared environmental challenges such as reducing scope 3 emissions and improving water quality and stress. We also think it is critical to consider the interdependencies between nature and social systems to avoid unintended consequences and maximise the positive impact of any interventions we make.
• Transparently disclosing our progress. We’ve committed already within our sustainability plan to reporting and disclosing our impacts on nature. We are engaging with emerging global frameworks such as the Taskforce for Nature Disclosure (TNFD), which aims to help businesses, investors and financial institutions measure and address financial risks derived from biodiversity loss and redirect financial flows into nature-positive investments. As part of the Get Nature Positive handbook, both our Woodland Eggs and Peru Restoration projects are used as case studies to help inform others of work being done across the business community. We are also supporting the ‘Make It Mandatory’ campaign from Business for Nature, calling for mandatory disclosure of business impacts and dependencies on nature.
• Continuous improvement. The urgency of today’s nature emergency demands that we act immediately, whilst learning from and adjusting our approach as we go. All of the above is built on the notion of continuous improvement and our targets under this ambition will be reviewed at least every three years to ensure we are ratcheting up our targets appropriately

Sustainable sourcing

Our sustainable sourcing strategy ensures that we have a safe, continuous, and affordable supply of key raw materials and ingredients whilst mitigating both environmental and social risks in our supply chains.

We are committed to sourcing with integrity. For us, ‘sustainable sourcing’ means ensuring the origins of the materials in supply chains are sufficiently known and our suppliers are continuously progressing to address the social and environmental impacts of our products. Our key criteria for sustainable sourcing has been informed by the core principles of the Accountability Framework.

Our approach aims to transform our sourcing practices to contribute to a more resilient and sustainable future, while ensuring long-term business resilience amid increasing climate- and nature-related risks, as well as human rights risks.

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We are committed to ensuring our own-brand products are deforestation and conversion free by 2025

Read more on deforestation and land conversion