Marks & Spencer (M&S) is allocating £1 million towards funding innovation projects designed to help it meet its net zero target by 2040.

The retailer stated that all projects will use innovation and technology to accelerate the reduction of Scope 3 emissions through partnerships within the M&S supply chain, where 95 per cent of emissions are concentrated.

M&S added that this year's projects will prioritise the reduction of emissions from agriculture.

Projects currently underway include a trial using AI to improve strawberry quality and boost new innovative varieties.

As part of the pilot, M&S is working with a group of growers to experiment with precision pollination, an agricultural technique that monitors and improves the activity of pollinators to increase fruit quality and improve biodiversity.

Another M&S Food project is exploring better uses for agricultural waste by using high-quality biochar on chicken farms.

Biochar is a unique charcoal-like product made by heating natural materials from plants at low oxygen levels - a process that locks in carbon.

The company said the “ChickenChar” trial will mix high-quality biochar with bedding material from M&S' sheds to reduce ammonia emissions in housing, ultimately improving the environment and animal welfare.

Other projects will focus on livestock, including measuring the methane production of Aberdeen Angus cows in their offspring to understand genetic links and how breeding selection could reduce it; implementing net zero wheat cultivation for potential use in animal feed and baked goods; and testing new technologies to promote energy efficiency in shops.

The projects support M&S' Plan A for the Journey to Zero, the retailer's roadmap initiated in 2007 to become a zero-emission company along the entire value chain by 2040.

The map includes targets such as reducing emissions by one-third by 2025 (from a 2017 baseline) through projects validated by the Science Based Targets (SBTi) initiative, including Forestry, Land and Agriculture (FLAG) and non-FLAG emissions.

Victoria McKenzie-Gould, director of corporate affairs and ESG at M&S, emphasised how the brand's success is based on deep relationships with its supplier partners.

“This same approach is helping us to become a Net Zero business by 2040 through our annual £1 million Plan A Accelerator Fund with which we fund new and small-scale or untested solutions in collaboration with our supply base,” she added.

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