Spanish retailer El Corte Inglés has managed to reduce its electricity consumption by almost 25% in the last five years.
The decrease in consumption this year has been greater than in previous years, dropping by 10% compared to 2019. The retailer attributed this decline to the implementation of COVID-19 restrictions.
Overall, this decrease means a saving of more than 141,538,632 kWh, equivalent to the consumption of some 43,000 homes in one year.
Energy Efficiency
The company has been promoting measures to increase energy efficiency across its network and is working on establishing specific consumption reduction targets.
To help the business advance along this path, the retailer utilises a governance model and a strategy to set the plan of action in this area.
In the financial year 2020, 100% of the electricity supplied to the group in Spain and 55% in Portugal was sourced exclusively from renewable energy sources.
This commitment is aligned with the objective of reducing the environmental footprint of its activity by implementing new measures that respect the environment.
In addition, the company has implemented a Consumption Control project that allows for a better understanding of the use of energy, identifying behaviours, comparisons, and anomalies in each of the different consumer systems that help to identify changes in operations.
Currently, it has more than 4,000 telemetry points integrated in most of the El Corte Inglés centres.
This control system has been accompanied by energy audits at night, which complement those carried out in previous years, and various actions by those responsible for maintenance.
Environmental Transparency
In addition, El Corte Inglés has increased its commitment to environmental transparency in 2020, reporting for the first time on its impact on climate matters through CDP (Carbon Disclosure Project), a non-profit organisation that runs the leading environmental disclosure platform in the world.
This action will continue and the group will continue to inform CDP about its impact in the coming years, thus reinforcing its commitment to the environment and transparency.
Elsewhere, El Corte Inglés has made progress in the process of implementing new charging points for electric vehicles in shopping centres, fulfilling its commitment to sustainable mobility.
The company has more than 200 charging points in its establishments, which are equivalent to a free transfer to its customers of 327,608 kWh.
In May of this year, the company pledged to promote a more sustainable economy that works for both people and the planet.
© 2021 European Supermarket Magazine. Article by Conor Farrelly. For more Retail news, click here. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.
