Ocado Retail buys Climeworks’ carbon dioxide removal for sustainability

(Graphic courtesy Ocado Retail)

Ocado Retail — a joint venture between Ocado Group and Marks & Spencer and one of the world’s largest dedicated online supermarkets — is the first grocery retailer to have signed a carbon dioxide removal agreement with Climeworks. Joining the likes of Audi and Microsoft, the online supermarket is helping to pave the way for a more sustainable future and is acting as a first mover within its industry.

Through this new deal, Ocado Retail has paid for over 1’000 tons of carbon dioxide to be removed from the atmosphere, the equivalent of what the brand will emit over the next seven years at its HQ in Hatfield, Hertfordshire. Climeworks’ carbon dioxide removal thus helps to make their head office net zero.

Direct air capture as a solution to permanently remove CO2 from the air

Climeworks’ clever technology consists of modular CO₂ collectors that capture CO2 from the atmosphere, which can then be permanently stored. Climeworks’ largest and most recent facility named “Orca” was launched in Iceland this September, where the air-captured CO2 is permanently stored via mineralization in basaltic rock formations thanks to Carbfix’ technology. The entire process is powered solely by renewable energy. The technology is scalable and does not compete with arable land and, by storing the captured carbon in basaltic rock formations deep underground, it stays safely stored for thousands of years.

Its methods are regarded as one of the highest-quality carbon removal solutions currently on the market. Carbon dioxide removal, the permanent removal of CO2 from the air, is an important tool in the fight against climate change. The IPCC clearly states that in order to limit global warming to 1.5°C, carbon removal solutions like direct air capture and storage are urgently needed on a large scale because they allow to remove residual emissions and get to net zero.

The Climeworks carbon removal agreement is the latest addition to Ocado Retail’s overarching sustainability strategy to become entirely net zero by 2040. As well as working to remove residual emissions, Ocado is working to reduce emissions across its entire operations, in line with the British Retail Consortium’s Climate Action Roadmap. The BRC works with retailers, their suppliers, government and other stakeholders to collectively deliver the industry’s net-zero ambition. 

More companies purchasing Climeworks’ high-quality carbon removal means a growing demand for such solutions, which, in turn, supports the technology’s scale-up: the direct air capture capacity will be further increased to meet this growing demand until it reaches climate-relevant scales.

“We are excited and thankful to welcome a new industry leader through the agreement with Ocado," said Christoph Gebald, Climeworks co-CEO and co-founder. "Ocado Retail’s net zero strategy is a great example of how emissions reduction and emissions removal should be combined.”

Daniel Costigan, sustainability lead at Ocado Retail sid: “We are immensely proud to be the first supermarket in the world to have a net zero office. Running a sustainable business is incredibly important to us and our customers and our deal with Climeworks will help as we continue to look at ways of reducing our carbon footprint.”

 

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