Sustainability

There’s no plan B when it comes to our planet.

A Marks & Spencer employee stocking boxes of British Sweet Rosso tomatoes on a store shelf filled with various tomato products.

Where we are

We consider the impact of every decision we make with a focus on doing the right thing - from how we transport our products and power our stores, to selling products that are too good to waste. We’ve become the first national retailer to sell only slower-reared, higher-welfare, fresh chicken. And we only use responsibly sourced cotton in our clothing products. Our latest report has more detail.

Download our sustainability report

A smiling Marks & Spencer employee holding a reusable box while selecting free-range eggs from a display offering a mix-and-match option.

Plan A

Plan A is our focus to become a net zero business across all our operations and value chain by 2040. We’ve set out clear targets for the coming years and laid out an ambitious roadmap with 10 priority areas where we’ll focus first. We’re reimagining almost every part of how we work to do the right thing for people and the planet and deliver on our promises. This is our opportunity to make our planet a better place to live and work. Because there is no plan B.

Achievements

We’ve set big targets and together, we’re making them happen.

Reduced food waste

We reduced our food waste to 46% and remain on track to meet our 50% reduction by 2030 target. We redistributed 85% of food that wasn't sold to charities, organisations or colleagues – up from 79% last year – a big stride towards our goal of 100% by 2026

Sustainably sourced material

We sourced 100% of the cotton in our clothing from responsible sources with organic and recycled certifications. For the cotton in our Home products – we’re currently at 90%, with a goal of 100% by 2026.

Helping customers recycle

We increased our recyclable food packaging to 93% as we strive to be at 100% by 2026. Our clothes recycling scheme, known as ‘Shwopping’ has been live since 2008, and has raised £23m for Oxfam in this time – all while reducing waste.

Reducing carbon emissions

We have reduced our Scope 1 & 2 carbon emissions by 33% since 2016/17 and are on course to meet our 55% target by 2030 as we strive for net zero in our stores and logistics network. In our owned International business, we’ve now switched to low-carbon LED lighting in 63% of our stores, with a goal to reach 100% by 2025.

Our ambitions

We’re working to become a net zero business. To deliver on this, we pledge to:

Use more recyclable packaging

We aim to make all our packaging recyclable by 2025 and to reduce plastic food packaging by 30% (1 billion units) by 2027

Reduce our emissions

We strive to reduce carbon emissions by over a third by 2025 and more than half by 2030

Increase vegan and vegetarian products

We aspire to double the number of vegan and vegetarian products by 2024

Source responsibly

We aim to source all our soy from verified deforestation-free regions, to responsibly source all of our palm oil by 2025, and only use verified recycled polyester by 2025

Reduce food waste

We’re working to redistribute 100% of edible surplus by 2025 to those who need it most and halve food waste by 2030