2008/09 environmental target

Progress against the target we set and published last year is as follows:

Target: To improve sustainability of our business operations. It is recognised that all businesses are at different stages on this journey and during the course of the year each will develop their own strategy which is appropriate to their circumstances and those prevailing in their country of domicile.

We are committed to reducing the carbon intensity of our businesses. In order to achieve this, we continue to put in place specific carbon reduction initiatives which incorporate our products, services and buildings. For example, during the year we refurbished and installed enhanced temperature management controls in over 45 of our larger Boots stores in the UK, which will reduce energy consumption. Boots UK continues to work with Loughborough University to find new and more sustainable ways of delivering our products and services to our customers, and in our Pharmaceutical Wholesale Division we utilise software which optimises delivery routes and improves fuel consumption and emissions.

In making investment decisions, our people are encouraged wherever possible to opt for more carbon-efficient alternatives. In terms of energy use, store design and transport purchase decisions, lower carbon options are considered. The key to our approach is to continue to make prudent investments that deliver both cost savings and reduce our carbon footprint.

In June 2008 Boots UK obtained a grant from The Technology Strategy Board, an executive non-departmental public body established by the Government in 2007, to develop, in collaboration with both academic and industrial partners, processes that could enable algae to be grown utilising carbon dioxide emissions from the energy centre in Nottingham. An important ambition for the project is that the algae will be used as an alternative starting point to where petrochemical sources of ingredients are currently used in our products. This technology is still in its early stages but, if successful, the energy centre’s emissions could be significantly reduced.

Around 50% of the waste we create as a Group is recycled. Strong progress is being made in this regard but we are equally focused on reducing the overall amount of waste created, rather than simply recycling more. We continue to challenge ourselves in this area, which includes initiatives in the UK such as improving Boots product delivery processes enabling the removal of retail transit packaging at source.