Tesco is investing £25m to set up an institute aimed at tackling climate change which it hopes will lead to "a revolution in green consumption". The supermarket giant unveiled its plans yesterday for a Sustainable Consumption Institute (SCI) which will be part of the University of Manchester and will fund research into recycling technology and explore ideas such as how to incentivise customers to buy green.

Tesco's chief executive, Sir Terry Leahy, said the retailer can maintain profitability while producing less carbon. "The global threat from climate change is now clearer than ever," he said. "The scientific evidence has hardened. We need to move from a high- carbon to a low-carbon economy, but the answer is not 'do not consume'. It is intelligent consumption."

In January, Tesco, which estimates it produces about 4 million metric tons of carbon a year, announced plans to spend more than £500m over five years to lower energy use and cut emissions. Tesco aims to offer customers products made by both energy-efficient and conventional methods, and inform its customers through carbon labelling.

The SCI is expected to become a focal point for the next generation of researchers, policymakers and advisers in the area of sustainable consumption through a postgraduate training programme, Tesco said. Mr Leahy said he was prepared for academics to reach conclusions that he "didn't like" and said the research would be available to other retailers, manufacturers and think-tanks.

Alan Gilbert, the university's president and vice-chancellor, said: "This is independent research. The industry partner has a right to talk to us about what problems it wants to have addressed, but it cannot manipulate the findings."

Mr Gilbert added that a consumer-led change in energy consumption was among the factors that would give human civilisation a higher chance of surviving the 21st century. He added that flying foods worldwide may be less environmentally harmful than buying locally and warned against "knee-jerk responses" to climate change. "It may be that farming from further afield is actually environmentally better; we'll have to wait and see the numbers," he added.

In the UK, Tesco's lorries run on fuel which comprises 50 per cent biodiesel. This week, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development warned biofuels could cause worse problems than fossil fuels.
(By Karen Attwood, The Independent, 13/09/2007)