Tesco has revealed that its UK distribution operation has achieved the group's five-year goal of halving the emissions per case of goods transported.

The supermarket's distribution operation handles 65% of all cases delivered across the global business

It has done this by following its 'F plan', which has seen emissions per case of goods drop from 0.14kg of CO2 to 0.07kg of CO2.

The key components of the strategy are:

• Fuller cages and pallets.

• Fuller trucks and containers.

• Fewer miles.

• Fuel economy.

Tesco has also invested in alternative modes of transport in the UK, for example, it has transferred “significant” volumes from road to rail: four dedicated rail services are saving 15,000 tonnes of CO2 per year and removing 14 million road miles.

The supermarket has also rolled out the use of biogas across its Tesco.com vehicle fleet.

Further CO2 savings have been made across the group's store and warehouses, with improved refrigeration systems shaving 16% off emissions output in the past year by minimising gas leakage.

Natural lighting is also being trialled at certain sites, with renewable energy and voltage optimisation devices also saving Tesco 180,000 tonnes of CO2 since 2005 in the UK.

A company statement adds: “This year our global direct carbon footprint was 5.66 million tonnes of CO2. We continued to decouple our business growth from the growth in our carbon emissions: while our net sales area grew by 9%, our carbon footprint increased by 5%.”

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