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British supermarket operator Tesco is investing £25 million ($71 million) to set up an institute aimed at tackling climate change, which it hopes will lead to "a revolution in green consumption".
The supermarket giant unveiled its plans this week for a Sustainable Consumption Institute (SCI), which will be part of the University of Manchester and will fund research into technology for recycling and explore ideas such as how to motivate customers to buy green.
Chief executive Sir Terry Leahy said the retailer could stay profitable while producing less carbon.
"The global threat from climate change is now clearer than ever. The scientific evidence has hardened. We need to move from a high-carbon to a low-carbon economy, but the answer is not 'do not consume'. It is intelligent consumption."
In January, Tesco, which estimates it produces about 4 million tonnes of carbon a year, announced plans to spend more than £500 million over five years to lower energy use and cut emissions. Tesco aims to offer customers products made by energy-efficient and conventional methods, and to inform its customers through carbon labelling.
The SCI was expected to become a focal point for the next generation of researchers, policymakers and advisers in the area of sustainable consumption through a postgraduate training programme, Tesco said. Leahy said he was prepared for academics to reach conclusions he "didn't like" and said the research would be available to other retailers, manufacturers and think-tanks.
Alan Gilbert, the university's president and vice-chancellor, said: "This is independent research. The industry partner has a right to talk to us about what problems it wants to have addressed but it cannot manipulate the findings."
He said a consumer-led change in energy consumption was among the factors that would give civilisation a higher chance of surviving the 21st century.
- Independent
