M&S and Bain & Company become Carbon Neutral

Two of world's most respected and successful businesses, M&S and Bain & Company, have announced this week that they have accomplished their publically stated goal of becoming carbon neutral. We are proud to say that these two renowned leaders in business sustainability both chose to work with The CarbonNeutral Company to create custom carbon credit portfolios that met their goals of delivering carbon finance to enable resource conservation and renewable energy projects around the world.

M&S, a leading retailer, today announced that their innovative Plan A programme delivered both positive environmental and business results. In 2012 alone, M&S reported £105 million of net benefits contributed to the company from its Plan A activities. Since the launch of Plan A, M&S have reduced emissions by 22% including improving energy efficiency in their stores by 28%. They are now going a stage further by supporting a range of offset projects in order to be carbon neutral. These projects were selected for their carbon reduction achievements and community development attributes; from encouraging reforestation by providing communities with new income streams and fuel sources in Kenya, to supporting biomass technology that gives Chinese farmers valuable extra income for their waste. The combination of the business success of Plan A, combined with their use of carbon finance, has allowed M&S to achieve carbon neutrality, certified by The CarbonNeutral Protocol and PAS 2060.

Bain & Company has achieved its stated goal of becoming a global CarbonNeutral^® company. Bain, widely acknowledged as one of the world's most progressive and result-driven global consultancies, has embedded sustainability strategies into it business operations to achieve CarbonNeutral^® certification. As part of Bain's commitment to environmental sustainability, they have chosen to support six projects that will further develop renewable technologies. The projects include wind, biomass, methane capture, forestry and geothermal, spread across the United States, Brazil, Turkey, India and China. Bain's approach to sustainability also extends beyond environmental concerns to tackling pressing social issues at both a global and local level. 

We are pleased and proud to work closely with these two industry leaders in meeting their sustainability goals. M&S and Bain & Company - along with over 400 of our world-wide clients - have proven that a positive environmental impact results in positive financial results.