John Lewis Partnership signs up to HRH the Prince of Wales' Terra Carta

Thursday 18 February 2021

The John Lewis Partnership has become the first retailer to sign-up to HRH The Prince of Wales’ Terra Carta, which forms part of HRH’s Sustainable Markets Initiative, and puts nature, people and planet at the heart of global business.

Launched by HRH on 11 January 2021, the Terra Carta lists ten action articles for the decade and aims to provide an integrated roadmap towards an inspiring, inclusive, equitable, prosperous and sustainable future for the sake of present and future generations. It will harness the power of nature, combined with the transformative power, innovation and resources of the private sector.

The John Lewis Partnership has pledged to support the Terra Carta, its principles and action articles, as they complement existing sustainability commitments. This includes becoming net zero carbon across our entire operations by 2035. This will be supported by removing fossil fuels across our entire transport fleet by 2030. All our heavy goods vehicles will also be converted to biomethane gas, which is made of food waste, by 2028. And all own-brand product packaging across Waitrose and John Lewis will be widely recyclable, reusable, or home compostable by 2023.

Through our new Waitrose Agriculture Commitments, our future farming ambitions include embracing regenerative farming techniques. As the only supermarket that runs its own farm, we will use our Leckford Estate to bench test regenerative farming and carbon mitigation techniques for the benefit of UK agriculture. We will achieve our carbon targets by sourcing food only from carbon net zero farms in the UK by 2035. And we will continue to create groundbreaking animal welfare pledges, ensuring all livestock should have a demonstrably ‘good life’.

In Waitrose we will also halve food waste in our own operations and supply chain and help halve customers’ own household food waste by 2030. And John Lewis will lead the ‘made to last’ movement to ensure products can be loved for longer, with all product categories having a ‘buy back’ or ‘take back’ solution by 2025. All key raw materials in own-brand products will also be from sustainable or recycled sources by 2025; and we will continue to develop sustainable rental and resale options for customers.

HRH The Prince of Wales, said: “The more companies that sign up to the Terra Carta, the greater its capability will be to drive the change we so desperately need. I can only encourage more people to join this urgent call to arms.”

Sharon White, Chairman of the John Lewis Partnership, said: “HRH The Prince of Wales has made an outstanding contribution to global environmental preservation and protection for over 40 years and we are proud to support his latest initiative and become a Terra Carta supporter.

“The Terra Carta reinforces the Partnership’s commitment to sustainability and we're pleased to be the first retailer to support. It will help galvanise our work to put the environment at the heart of what we do. We know we still have a long way to go but each day we are making progress.”

Further information on the sustainability progress we are making is available in our 2020 report or via www.johnlewispartnership.co.uk/csr.html

About the John Lewis Partnership

The John Lewis Partnership owns and operates two of Britain's best-loved retail brands - John Lewis and Waitrose. Started as a radical idea nearly a century ago, the Partnership is the largest employee-owned business in the UK and amongst the largest in the world, with over 78,000 employees who are all Partners in the business. For all intents and purposes, the Partnership is a social enterprise; the profits made are reinvested into the business - for customers and Partners. John Lewis operates 42 shops plus one outlet across the UK as well as johnlewis.com. Waitrose has 331 shops in England, Scotland, Wales and the Channel Islands, including 59 convenience branches, and another 27 shops at Welcome Break locations. The retailer's omnichannel business includes the online grocery service, Waitrose.com, as well as specialist online shops including waitrosecellar.com for wine and waitroseflorist.com for plants and flowers.

About the Sustainable Markets Initiative

The Sustainable Markets Initiative aims to lead and accelerate the world’s transition to a sustainable future by putting Nature, People and Planet at the heart of our global value creation. To drive transition to a sustainable future at a global scale, His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales, through his Sustainable Markets Initiative, convenes ‘coalitions of the willing’ across industries, investors, countries, academia and civil society. His Royal Highness launched the Sustainable Markets Initiative at the World Economic Forum 2020 Annual Meeting in Davos.

Since its launch last year, with HRH’s leadership, the SMI, co-chaired by Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan, has hosted more than two dozen industry roundtable discussions, bringing hundreds of business leaders together. The SMI has also: engaged with country leaders to support their transition efforts; launched a network of Chief Sustainability Officers; launched a Natural Capital Investment Alliance; and, has launched RE:TV, a content platform showcasing the most inspiring business innovations and ideas for a sustainable future through films. The Terra Carta, launched in January 2021, aims to provide a framework for private sector acceleration and action across the decade and will serve as the guiding mandate for the Sustainable Markets Initiative.