Sainsbury opens new branch to highlight commitment to trees

J Sainsbury has taken the concept of opening new branches to a whole new level after unveiling a "tree top Sainsbury's store" to coincide with the launch of its corporate responsibility report in which the supermarket sets out its goals to help the environment over the next five years.

Sainsbury's said it was committed to reducing its CO2 emissions by a quarter by 2012. In addition the supermarket said it would be planting two million trees over the next five years in conjunction with the Woodland Trust in order to improve forest cover.

In addition Sainsbury said it would be reducing its own brand packaging weight, relative to sales, by a third in the next five years, with 2009 being the baseline.

The new "tree top store" is in Hainault Forest, comes as part of Sainsbury's "Sustainabili-tree" initiative outlined in its corporate responsibility report. The initiative aims not just to plant new trees but also to preserve existing trees and to conserve raw materials be reducing the amounts of packaging used and increasing recycling.

Justin King, Chief Executive of J Sainsbury, said, "Trees are at the centre of our food chain, so if we are to continue selling food of the variety and quality that we do, it is vital that we think long-term and protect a key raw material.

"This new strategy will help us to focus on trees as a single issue and ensure that we remain industry leaders in preserving the UK and the world's forests for future generations."