The John Lewis Partnership has “doubled down” on its commitment to “protect and restore” nature, including pledging to achieve net zero on its Leckford farm by 2024.
The Partnership has pledged zero deforestation in the sourcing of all key commodities across all own brand products, as well as outlined plans to end fossil fuels, eradicate waste, and enhance nature in retail spaces.
A stand-out pledge is to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions from agricultural processes on John Lewis’ farm at Leckford to reach net zero by 2024. This will be combined with encouraging species regeneration on the Estate, the Partnership says.
John Lewis also revealed its WWF partnership to fund biodiversity and nature conservation in “key sourcing” regions.
The pledges include a range of new commitments and initiatives to “significantly reduce” the impact of Waitrose and John Lewis’s commercial activity on the natural world.
We all know that we can’t exist without nature, it is essential for our survival.
John Lewis Partnership says achieving this requires a fundamental change to the way all industries operate and they feel passionately that investing in nature restoration across its supply chain is the most impactful way it can make a difference.
As part of its commitments, the John Lewis Partnership says it will invest £2m to fund ecosystem protection and regeneration projects in the UK and India through a new and exclusive partnership with WWF.
The Partnership has also committed to zero deforestation in the sourcing of key commodities across Waitrose and John Lewis’s own-brand product supply chains. As well as ensuring all key raw materials in our own-brand products will be from more sustainable or recycled sources by 2025.
Director of Ethics & Sustainability, Marija Rompani, said: “We all know that we can’t exist without nature, it is essential for our survival and it will play a vital role in solving the problem of climate change. We can’t solve one without the other, the crises of nature loss and climate change are inextricably linked.
We are acting where we can make the biggest impact.
“And yet, the UK currently languishes in the bottom 10% of global countries for its abundance of nature. That’s unacceptable and given the tiny window in which we have to get this right, delaying action is simply not an option.
“This is why we’re going back to our roots and focusing our efforts on protecting and restoring nature. Whether it’s eliminating fossil fuel use across our transport operations, investing millions in conservation projects in regions where we source our products or helping our farmers make the transition to net zero, we are acting where we can make the biggest impact.
“And these principles will apply to everything we sell, including our entry-level Essential Waitrose and John Lewis Anyday ranges – ensuring products made with sustainable values are accessible to all our customers.”
