LONDON, 2016-Jun-13 — /EPR Retail News/ — Marks & Spencer has won the 2016 NACS Insight International Convenience Retail Sustainability Award, sponsored by The Coca-Cola Company. The award was presented during the NACS Insight Convenience Summit – Europe awards dinner in London on June 9.
The award recognizes Marks & Spencer for its leadership in development and implementation of sustainable resource strategies that deliver greater operational efficiencies. The award is presented for work that has made a discernible impact, is replicable and will inspire other businesses to identify and implement sustainability initiatives of their own.
Marks & Spencer continues to demonstrate its commitment to its Plan A goals, anchored at the heart of the company’s corporate strategy. Plan A, Marks & Spencer’s ethical and environmental goals, was launched in 2007 as a 100 point, five-year plan. Having achieved its major goal of making its U.K. business carbon neutral, Marks & Spencer has introduced Plan A 2020, which consists of 100 new, revised and existing commitments, with the ultimate goal of becoming the world’s most sustainable major retailer. Public reporting on the attainment of Plan A goals, including any missed targets, makes Marks & Spencer’s sustainability strategy transparent and accessible both to the public and to the international retail industry, in a quantifiable format.
“A focus on sustainability not only helps protect our world and resources, it is also good for business,” said Ern Sherman, vice president of industry affairs for The Coca-Cola Company. “With this award, we are proud to recognize a retailer who shares our passion for making an enduring, positive difference for businesses and communities.”
“Marks & Spencer deserves this European sustainability accolade, commending the hard work by the company and its leadership to implement Plan A over the past nine years,” said Dan Munford, Managing Director of Insight. “The Marks & Spencer Plan A is an extremely impressive, measurable and inspiring sustainable business model that encourages other international retailers to consider similar types of initiatives.”
NACS President and CEO Henry Armour congratulated Marks & Spencer for its Plan A goals and focus on sustainable business solutions. “Marks & Spencer is a stellar example of sustainable and environmentally conscious best practices, and we are pleased that we have the opportunity to share Marks & Spencer’s endeavors with our global convenience retail community.”
Now in its third year, the NACS Insight Convenience Summit – Europe (conveniencesummit.com) brings together convenience and fuel retailing industry professionals from around the world to discuss new ideas and gain new commercial connections. This year’s event kicked off in Stockholm on June 5 and ends on June 11 in Dublin.
Note to editors: Images available upon request.
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Founded in 1961 as the National Association of Convenience Stores, NACS (nacsonline.com) is the international association for convenience and fuel retailing. The U.S. convenience store industry, with more than 154,000 stores across the country, conducts 160 million transactions a day, sells 80% of the fuel purchased in the country and had total sales of $575 billion in 2015. NACS has 2,100 retail and 1,700 supplier member companies, which do business in nearly 50 countries.