‘COP26 legacy’: Tesco announces full electrification of Glasgow home delivery fleet
Achievement marks a first for Tesco in a Scottish city and will help move company closer to its climate goals, according to update timed to coincide with COP26 Summit
Tesco has announced that from this week onwards, all its home deliveries in Glasgow will be made using electric vehicles (EVs), touting the achievement as a “COP26 legacy” for the Scottish city.
Confirming the milestone this morning to coincide with COP26’s official Transport Day, the UK’s largest supermarket chain said Glasgow was the first city in Scotland where it had completely ended the use of fossil fuel vehicles in its delivery fleet.
It also announced it was launching a new rail service by the end of this year which would see produce ferried directly from Spain to Scotland, as part of the business’ plans to boost its use of rail freight to further slash its transport emissions. Currently, five trains a week carry fresh produce for Tesco customers from Spain to England, it said, but the network would now be extended to reach Scotland.
The electrification of Tesco’s Glasgow delivery fleet marks a step towards the company’s goal of fully electrifying is home delivery fleet by 2028 in support of its wider targets to reach net zero emissions across its operations by 2035 and achieve net zero across its entire value chain by 2050.
“In this critical decade for climate action, businesses must play a key role in driving transformational change,” said Jason Tarry, Tesco UK and ROI CEO said. “As part of our efforts to secure a COP26 legacy for Glasgow, I’m delighted that Glasgow will be the first Scottish city to transition to an all-electric Tesco home delivery fleet.
“We’re also increasing our use of rail distribution to take more emissions off our roads and helping boost UK’s renewable energy capacity by investing in renewable energy infrastructure, including nine new wind and solar farms across Scotland and throughout the UK.”
Tesco is also plotting the UK’s largest network of EV charging points at its retail locations across the country, the company said, touting plans to build 2,400 charging points across 600 stores, including 72 in Scotland by the end of 2022.
Scottish Minister for Transport Graeme Dey welcomed the announcement from Tesco, noting that government, individuals, and business all had a role to play when it came to climate action.
“This is a welcome step from Tesco, looking to secure a lasting legacy from COP26, and good news for customers in Glasgow, where over 3,700 deliveries a week will now be completed using zero emission vehicles – helping to protect our climate and improve air quality,” he said.
The news comes amidst an avalanche of transport related announcements at COP26, including the UK government’s confirmation it intends to ban the sale of new fossil fueled heavy goods vehicles from 2040 and news that 24 countries, six major vehicle manufacturers – GM, Ford, Mercedes, BYD, Volvo, and JLR – 39 cities, states, and regions, 28 corporate fleets, and 13 investors are to today jointly set out their determination for all new car and van sales to be zero emission by 2040 globally.
