Two large US retailers are to stop using fuel sourced from Canadian oil sands. The organic grocery chain Whole Foods and the household goods group Bed Bath and Beyond have announced measures to eradicate any trace of oil sands fuel from their supply chains.
Whole Foods, the world’s largest organic retailer, says fuel used for the 35 million miles travelled by its trucks every year will be derived only from US-based crude oil in ten of its 11 distribution centres.
The company has already replaced Marathon Oil, which sources from oil sands, with CountryMark, which derives fuel only from crude.
Bed Bath and Beyond, which has more than 1000 stores in the US and Canada, has adopted a policy that encourages its external transport providers to switch to cleaner fuels and avoids distribution services that use oil sands fuel.
The decisions follow a campaign begun last year by the US-based ForestEthics group, warning Fortune 500 companies their brands are at risk through an association with oil sands.
Also known as tar sands, oil sands are thought to generate at least three times the greenhouse gas emissions of conventional oil production, and are causing rapid deforestation.
ForestEthics, which is encouraging more than 30 other businesses to adopt similar policies, said: ‘Companies are moving with lightning speed. It’s a core issue they know they need to move on. The failure of Copenhagen makes them more willing to do this. Leadership must come from somewhere.’
