The Co-operative Group's Climate Actions

The Co-operative Group (Co-op) recognized the need to act on climate change long before most businesses. The organization has set ambitious long term GHG reduction targets, and consistently met them.

We identified an opportunity for Co-op to bring together its actions to offset carbon emissions with support for its supply chain producers above and beyond the Fairtrade premium it pays. We designed a bespoke project to measurably improve lives, tackle climate change, and support a tea co-operative with its Fairtrade supply chain, delivering on the company’s environmental and social objectives.

Co-op is one of the world’s largest consumer co-operatives, owned by millions of members and employing nearly 70,000 people. It’s the UK’s fifth biggest food retailer, number one funeral services provider, a major general insurer, and a growing legal services business. The Co-operative is also recognized for its leading social goals and community-led programs.

Climate Impact Partners was ideally placed to develop integrated supply chain projects for Co-op. Collaborating closely with the group’s headquarters in Manchester, we worked with Fairtrade tea-producing co-operatives in Kenya to understand their community needs and find ways to solve them using carbon finance.

After a series of community consultations, Climate Impact Partners then began work on a series of bespoke climate and development projects to provide safe water and cut carbon emissions within Co-op’s Fairtrade supply chain communities.

Our unique position as a project developer, coupled with our climate and development expertise, meant we could help Co-op meet its sustainable development and environmental objectives.

The first bespoke supply chain project we developed is an extension of the Aqua Clara project, providing safe water to communities in Kericho – who are part of Co-op's Fairtrade tea supply chain. This project cut more than 6,000 tonnes of carbon and provided safe water to 14,000 people.