Sim-O

I was just thinking this morning about how much longer I would have to wait for a reply to this email to Ocado about their claim to be ‘as green as walking to the supermarket’ when early this afternoon a response plops into my inbox…

Dear Sim-O,

Thank you for your e-mail.

The claim that ?Ocado is greener than walking to the supermarket? was a conclusion that was reached by an independent Carbon Footprint Assessment agency called Greenstone and not by Ocado.

The centralised warehouse which every order is picked from means a small supply chain and massive energy/resource efficiency at every level of the business.

Greenstone compared our unique picking model to several well known supermarket chains. These chains emit huge amounts of carbon as they have countless stores around the country, all consuming electricity, using chillers etc. All of these stores have long supply chains from suppliers driving up and down the country. Building new stores generates high amounts of carbon, while Ocado can still grow within one Warehouse.

The most recent comparison in May 2009 of Ocado to ?traditional supermarkets? across the same detailed categories showed that we had a lower carbon footprint. This did not take into account the huge additional carbon footprint of traditional stores from customers traveling to them each week by car.

Hence it was concluded independently that Ocado is greener than walking to a supermarket

For more information on the survey itself, you can contact Greenstone in the following ways:

Greenstone Carbon Management Ltd,
4th Floor,
Vigo House,
1-4 Vigo Street,
London W1S 3HT.

T: +44 (0) 20 3031 4000
F: +44 (0) 20 3031 4001

E: info@greenstonecarbon.com

I hope this has been of assistance.

A customer service bod

Fair enough*. I’m not gonna try and see the survey for myself as, frankly, I can’t be arsed.

*I think I was a little unfair in this tweet as I read it quick and misread it.

Ocado, online grocery home delivery service, claim on their vans that they are ‘as green as walking to the supermarket’ and on their website has the statement…

With such a lean, efficient operation, we’ve been able to lower our carbon emissions to the point where each Ocado delivery now has a lower carbon footprint (CO2 per £ of sales) than walking to a supermarket.

I’m buggered if I think how driving a van can produce less CO2 than walking, especially as at the moment they are using biodiesel and not something like hydrogen fuel cells which produce only water (not counting all the CO2 produced in the ‘manufacture’ of the hydrogen). I wouldn’t have given it much thought if the claim had been nearly as little as walking, but less…?

So I sent them an email…

To: ocado@ocado.com
from: Sim-O
Subject: your CO2 output

Sri or Madam,

On your vans you claim…

We’re as green as walking to the supermarket

and your website also carries the statement…

With such a lean, efficient operation, we’ve been able to lower our carbon emissions to the point where each Ocado delivery now has a lower carbon footprint (CO2 per £ of sales) than walking to a supermarket.

Could you substantiate that claim, please. It is a big claim and it has to be true otherwise you would not be able to make it, but I am puzzled as to how.

What are you counting as producing CO2 in each type of journey? How far back through the delivery chain are you going? What, exactly, are you comparing for each type of journey?

What are the figures and the maths that enable you to make such a claim?

Kind Regards

I’m not trying make a point, get some info so I can point my finger and yell ‘Cpaitalist Charlatan Pigs!’, but genuinely puzzled. Just by the fact that the van has a driver puts the van on an equal footing with the pedestrian. Doesn’t it?