Ethical Mall

Tesco Unveil Green Plan

2007-01-20T09:14:00.000Z

Sir Terry Leahy, the chief executive of Tesco, must be spitting feathers. He didn't develop Tesco's new £500m environmental plan in the last few days since Marks and Spencer announced their own Carbon Neutral Plan, but unfortunately Stuart Rose pipped him to the post.

Ethical Mall gave a big thumbs up to M&S for their announcement. Does Tesco get the same applause? Let's compare the two policies:

Tesco plan to spend £500m on the policy over the next five years. M&S announced a £200m spend over 4 years. That's an impressive investment from them both and very welcome.
M&S aim to be carbon neutral after four years. Tesco do not. Terry Leahy said:

I felt it inappropriate in an industry that is clearly carbon emitting to speak about carbon neutrality

Tesco plans to cut emissions from existing stores worldwide by at least 50% by 2020. M&S has already cut emissions from stores by 30% in the last four years, and aims to power all their UK and Irish shops with green energy sources.
Tesco plan to restrict air transport to less than 1% of products, and label products flown in. M&S will also label air-freighted products but do not specify what proportion will be flown in, although they aim to minimise them.
Tesco aims to develop a carbon footprint labelling measure for all products sold in store. The UK director of Greenpeace, John Sauven, called this

...a major step forward...

Tesco promised to cut the cost of many energy-efficient goods, for example halving the cost of low-energy lightbulbs. M&S also promised to develop and sell ranges of low carbon products.

But M&S's policy goes far further than Tesco's, with pledges to end the use of landfill, reduce all packaging, make remaining packing recyclable, specific aims about sustainable materials (including 100% FSC wood in furniture and 100% MSC fish). Critically, M&S have a detailed policy about trading fairly not only with producers in developing countries under the Fair trade mark, but also dealing fairly with UK producers. This is an area where Tesco have come in for considerable criticism. After all, ethics is about more than carbon emissions, and it is hard to imagine how you can sell a pair of jeans for £3 and also ensure decent pay and conditions for the workers who make them. From the CorporateWatch website:

In recent years, Tesco and its major supermarket rivals have faced criticism for abusing their monopoly positions and contributing to some of the major social and environmental problems plaguing society today. These include exploiting small farmers in the UK and worldwide and hastening their replacement with industrial monoculture plantations where wages are low and labour rights are minimal; undercutting almost every other retailer and hence turning our town centres into boarded-up ghost towns

Ethical Mall gives a thumbs up to Tesco's announcement. As far as it goes, it's great. In particular we feel optimistic that many other businesses will probably follow suit now that two such important players have announced ethical policies and investment. But it doesn't yet go far enough and it doesn't address many of the standing criticisms of the company, particularly in terms of labour issues, trading issues and sharp business practices (the deliberately oversized Stockport shop is just up the road from here). So we don't yet feel able to give a "thumbs up" to Tesco as a whole, and we won't be adding them to our listings straight away.

Blog Of The Day

2007-01-19T08:15:00.000Z

Ethical Mall was awarded a Best Blog of the Day award.

I'd like to thank my partner, and my mum and dad, and my agent, and my co-stars, and my best friend, and my pool boy, and my best friend's pool boy (bursts into tears) ...

January Sales

2007-01-18T08:30:00.000Z

Here at Ethical Mall we believe strongly that you can have fun and a clear conscience. And ethical consumers love a January sale as much as the next person. But there's no need to battle through the crowds and the sleet. Just put your feet up while we guide you through the online ethical January sales.

Adili.com (the ethical fashion store that also sells gifts, linen and health and beauty items) is having a sale with up to 60% off. Also in fashion, Bourgeois Boheme have a special offers section with four pages of bags, shoes, boots and jewellery at reduced prices. Fair Indigo (which specialises in fair trade clothing, coffee and gifts) has a sale section with some amazing reductions - up to 79% off. Nomads, the fair trade ethnic clothes and gifts place, is having a winter sale with 30% off selected lines whilst stocks last. And everyone's favourite People Tree are having a January sale with up to 75% off fair trade and eco friendly clothing. Seasalt have a fabulous sale of their organic cotton clothing. And Vegan Essentials (who sell vegan shoes, clothes and toiletries as well as food) have lots of reductions in their sale section.

But it's not just the clothes stores who are having January sales. The department stores are at it too. A Lot of Shopping have coffee, truffles, natural cleaning packs, sunscreen and much more in their special offers section. British Eco are having a Winter Season Sale with offers on compost crocks, solar security lights, eco kettles and much more. EcoCentric have lots of stylish and desirable goodies in their January sale. And The Ethical Superstore has a whopping 91 products with up to 50% off in their sale section. The Traidcraft shop also has a Winter sale section, with the reassurance that:

Our commitment to fair trade means that although we have cut the prices for you, all our producers have received full payment for the products they’ve supplied.

Gone Green have a sale section with reductions on clothes, cleaning products and Remarkable recycled pencil sets. Marks and Spencer Online are having a January furniture sale, with up to 50% off selected furniture lines. Natural Collection have 11 whole pages of reductions in their January sale section, including books, solar fountains, low energy light bulbs and much more. One World Is Enough (who specialise in fairly traded clothes, crafts and gifts) are having a new year sale, with the warning that "when it's gone, it's gone". The Green Shop have reductions on 2007 calendars. The Natural Store have a new year sale on Seasalt organic cotton clothing. And WWF are having a seasonal sale on gifts, clothing, household, Christmas and children's items.

In the food court, A Lot Of Chocolate are having a January sale. I think I put on 2 pounds just reading through all their offers. Maybe I should try the yogurt diet from Rachel's Organics, which promises you can lose 10lbs in 2 weeks.

The gardening shops aren't giving it their all, with very few January sales going on. An honorable exception is Wiggly Wigglers, who have a sale between January 8th and January 31st. During that time you can claim a 15% discount when you spend £100 on goods in the online shop. And Down The Garden have special offers on baseball caps and t-shirts with plantpots printed on them.

Gift shops are getting more into the spirit of the thing. Fairwind Trading have a winter sale, with reductions on fair trade jewellery and gifts. And Body Shop are having a sale with up to 75% off bath and body, gifts, for the home and fragrances. Lush are giving away a 100g free soap with every purchase. And Bamboo Baby are having a January sale of their sustainable, natural, organic and eco-friendly baby products, with many items reduced.

M&S Aim To Be Carbon-Neutral

2007-01-17T10:38:00.000Z

Marks & Spencer, the UK high street chain and source of Margaret Thatcher's underwear, has announced a £200m, five-year eco-plan which should see the company become carbon-neutral. Former Friends of the Earth director Jonathon Porritt advised M&S on its environmental policy.

Policies included in the 100-point plan include:

reduce energy consumption
stop the use of landfill sites
increase the range of products made from recycled materials
reduce food miles by stocking more food from the UK and Republic of Ireland
reduce packaging
make polyester clothing from recycled plastic bottles rather than oil
increase the use of fair trade cotton in garments
use renewable micro-generated power in new build stores
only using offsetting (planting trees) as a last resort

According to M&S Chief Executive, Stuart Rose,

Every business and individual needs to do their bit to tackle the enormous challenges of climate change and waste ... We are calling this "Plan A" because there is no 'plan B'.

Ethical Mall applauds M&S. We always loved their Per Una range anyway, and their little trays of sushi, and those curly biscuits that go so well with coffee, and of course their underwear. We are happy to add their online store to our "Department Stores" category.

Welcome to Ethical Mall

2007-01-16T10:21:00.000Z

Welcome to Ethical Mall. We aim to bring all the best fair trade, organic, recycled, eco-friendly and ethical online shops under one roof. Scroll down the page to see the featured shops organised by category.

If you have any suggestions for shops you think should be added to the mall, please leave a comment or email us, specifying whether you are the owner, a satisfied customer, or have no affiliation.

If you would like to share your experiences of buying from any of the featured shops, whether good or bad, please leave a comment or email us. Please be factual and honest. Libellous comments will be deleted.

We will be occasionally publishing blog posts about our experiences of buying from the shops in the mall. These will be clearly labelled as "non sponsored posts".

If you would like us to review your shop or product, please email us. These reviews will be clearly labelled as "sponsored posts".

Happy shopping!