Green grocers

Age
Thursday 18/1/2007 Page: 4

BRITAIN'S retail sector is going green. Marks & Spencer has launched an "eco-plan" to make it the greenest retailer in the country, changes that dill be the equivalent of taking 100,000 cars off the road.

Rival Tesco then declared it would halve its carbon output by 2010. But Australia's retailers are less enthusiastic about their environmental impact - the Coles board is more worried about its meat than its greens - but at least the financial services sector is having a go.

Global insurance group Aviva is aiming to be the first insurer to carbon-neutralise its operations, and the blueprint for change has come from the company's Australian outpost.

Aviva Australia chief executive Allan Griffiths says the global plan is an endorsement of his company's "ongoing program of sustainable business practices" including limiting its impact on the environment.

To compensate for using electricity and gas for its buildings and for business travel - including air, car and train - across its global operations, Aviva will invest in projects that generate carbon credits. These will come from tree planting and renewable energy projects such as solar and wind power.

`Aviva Australia already invests in environmental programs," Griffiths says. "These include a partnership with Conservation Volunteers Australia to plant native Australian flora, along with being a signatory to Green scenes. The United Nations Environmental Program Financial Initiatives. We monitor and report on our greenhouse gas emissions through the Greenhouse Challenge Plus audit program." Aviva Australia is also encouraging its staff to use public transport or to walk or cycle to work.