Big businesses pledge to go green in Manchester

A group of businesses operating in the Manchester area have come in-line with the Manchester council’s pledge to reduce waste in an attempt to stop the effects of climate change.

Companies such as the Co-op, Aldi, and Manchester Airport Group have all stated their intention is to become more sustainable and make Greater Manchester “One of the leading green city regions” in the world.

Particularly key is the inclusion of large supermarket chains like Aldi. Issues such as food waste produce a large portion of avoidable carbon emissions. In addition, the polluting effect of single-use plastics in the world’s oceans has also been largely publicised.

Aldi’s Managing Director of Corporate Responsibility, Fritz Wallerczek said in a statement: “With more than 20 Aldi stores in Greater Manchester we are supportive of the new sustainability plans announced for the region.”

The news comes after the Manchester Council launched their sustainability program, which looks at areas such as improving housing to be more energy efficient and a pledge to be Carbon Zero by 2050.

However, following the IPCC report published in October which warned that there are only 12 years before the global temperature will rise by 1.5C, action taken by the Council to go carbon neutral by 2050 have been criticised as too little too late.

The reliance on businesses to form their own policies on increasing sustainability, although welcome, has been seen by some as not addressing the clear danger climate change presents.

Critics have called for simple but radical policies such as the Carbon Tax proposed by economists William Nordhaus and Paul Romer, who won a Nobel prize for their work, to be implemented.