Co-operative group reports on ethical progress

It reports that:

• Operational greenhouse gas emissions have been reduced by  35%, and water consumption is down by 20%
• £700 million has been lent to green energy projects
• Pressure groups have ranked The Co-operative as leader in areas such as pesticides, palm oil, sustainable fish and forest stewardship
• A million new customer members have joined
• 10,000 community initiatives have been supported by Co-op staff during the year
• 700 co-operative enterprises have been helped
• 70% of developing world products that can be Fairtrade will be Fairtrade by the of end March

The Co-op has now set additional targets as follows:

• Operational greenhouse gas emissions will be reduced by 50% by 2020, and water consumption will be reduced by 30% by 2014
• £17m will be invested in support of co-operative development
• The number of schools active in its Green schools Revolution will be doubled to 6,000
• To improve the safety of Britain’s roads, young drivers will be rewarded with premium discounts worth £20m
• A new campaign will be launched with Oxfam to champion small-holder farmers and co-operatives, and the role they can play in feeding the world sustainably
• 30,000 loans to entrepreneurs in the developing world will be facilitated by the year end

You can download the press release here. For more about the new Ethical Plan see here.