Environment

UK supermarket Sainsbury’s new plan is welcome, yet on close inspection its consumption-led business model is little altered

The year-end is conference season. If you sell to Sainsbury’s, that is. The past few months have seen hundreds of the supermarket’s suppliers shuffling into meeting rooms for familiar presentations about quality and price points, category management and promotions.

There is a new line in the script this time – “20 by 20”. No, it’s not a new ad campaign (well, not primarily). Nor is it some jazzy consumer discount scheme (not in the traditional, end-of-aisle sense, at least). It’s Sainsbury’s all-singing, all-dancing sustainability plan: 20 “ambitious goals” by 2020.

The UK’s third largest supermarket is pledging to promote nutritious eating, increase sourcing from certified producers, double British food purchases, and much else besides.

The news didn’t come as a complete surprise to suppliers, says Jack Cunningham, climate change and environment manager at Sainsbury’s. For starters, the supermarket spent a lengthy period eliciting opinions from NGOs (both friendly and not-so-friendly), employees, consumers...