Having read in the FT that Wincanton has won a £275m contract with Marks & Spencer partly based on their ‘green outlook’, we thought it might be worth taking a closer look.
The company’s Environmental Strategy document is available here. It is clearly well thought-out, and positions Wincanton’s environmental strategy as a key part of their business model, something we, as advisors, tend to recommend.
What the strategy does not contain, however, are targets such as ‘10% reduction in carbon footprint by 2012’, or ‘30% hybrid vehicles by 2025’. On the one hand, targets such as these can be useful, but only if there is a path to meeting the target and some kind of guarantee that the reporting will be independently verified. On the other hand, perhaps it is better not to set vague targets early on, as they may become hugely unrealistic as soon as a company begins to make progress in its efforts to become ‘sustainable’.
The issue now for Wincanton will be whether they live up to their aims, and how well they report on their progress. The danger inherent in all this is the dreaded ‘greenwash’ tag, where there are no facts to back up the rhetoric. Hopefully this strategy document will be the start of something truly substantial, and with that, give the company a real boost.
