Green supermarkets urged to challenge customer is king mantra

Supermarkets will have to choice edit the products they offer customers, scaling back their meat and dairy ranges in favour of more seasonal fruit and veg if they are to fall into line with the UK's carbon emission targets.

That is the stark warning from a new report by the Food Ethics Council, which found that despite supermarkets' increased focus on climate change, carbon emissions from across the food sector are continuing to rise.

The research found that while supermarkets have made significant progress in curbing emissions from their transport and logistic operations, total greenhouse gas emissions for the UK food sector still climbed three per cent in the year 2005-06, largely as a result of an increase in total consumption.

The report claimed that the sector's total carbon footprint was likely to be larger still, as the figures failed to count for emissions from overseas arising from food imports.

"Carbon emissions from overseas are going up as imports increase," explained report co-author Dr Tom MacMillan. "Overseas emissions accounted for around a third of the food sector's carbon emissions in 2002, but by 2007 that had risen to a half."

The report calls for a cultural shift – a raft of new government measures designed to help create the regulatory framework necessary to cut emissions, including a wider commitment to lower carbon forms of transport, increased investment in local and urban agriculture and the adoption of a public sector wide sustainable food procurement policy.

However, it also argues for a cultural shift across the food retail sector that challenges long-held assumptions of customer sovereignty.

"These businesses need to embrace choice editing and not just in terms of their logistics, but in the products they stock," said MacMillan. "We are seeing it happen with some types of fish that are under threat and with companies like Wicks banning patio heaters, but we still require a larger cultural shift."

He argued that scaling back on meat and dairy products and ensuring that the fruit and vegetables that are stocked are in season would represent one of the most effective means for supermarkets to deliver deep cuts in greenhouse gas emissions.