Boots Company PLC - Good Carbon Management Practice

Shields Environmental Award 2005 in association with the Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment

Boots is a retailer of health and beauty products, they also develop and manufacture their own products and employ around 60,000 people. Their carbon management plan addresses the impact of climate change and the need to reduce carbon emissions, which coupled with emerging policy and regulation on climate change, could have fundamental consequences for business performance and company valuation.

Processes

Climate change is emerging as one of the great challenges for modern society and Boots recognise that the identification of carbon and energy saving measures is only the start. Carbon management is a strategic as well as operational issue that is relevant to customers, shareholders and the community.

Boots have used combined heat and power (CHP) generation at its headquarters/ manufacturing/ warehousing site at Beeston, Nottingham since the 1920s. In 1996 it commissioned a brand new 15 Megawatt Powerhouse that provides certified ‘good quality’ CHP.

In 1996, Boots established a dedicated energy management team to drive initiatives that saved costs and carbon. In 2003 it decided to further improve its carbon footprint through joining with the Carbon Trust in, firstly a pilot and then, a full-blown carbon management (CM) project – to identify all opportunities to reduce CO2.

A range of opportunities to reduce carbon emissions were identified and an accurate system of utility data collection was set up. Key to the success of the programme is the establishment of robust procedures to embed energy efficiency into the carbon supply chain, particularly focusing upon design, maintenance, and procurement. The improvements are already included in new store designs and ongoing work addresses the reduction of energy use in the large number of existing stores.

Impact

Boots Like for Like UK energy consumption (measured by kWh per £ turnover) has maintained an overall 5 year trend of improvement
Over 20,000 tonnes CO2 is saved through the 15 Megawatt PowerhouseCO2 savings of over 10,000 tonnes and cost reductions of £1.35m were identified by the Carbon Trust work and a plan is now in place to implement these
Design, maintenance and equipment procurement specifications now include energy efficiency and life-cycle requirements
Significant increases in new stores, longer opening hours, overnight shelf-filling, more customer comfort cooling and increased manufacturing output may mean, though, that for 2004/5 energy efficiency (as measured by kWh per £ turnover) has deteriorated slightly, although an overall 5 year trend of improvement is maintained
However, any carbon increases due to business growth are now controlled and moderated by the robust, embedded procedures put in place as a result of the carbon management programme