Affordable and clean cotton from M&S

British retail giant Marks & Spencer has a new plan for its cotton supply chain. M&S has announced a new partnership with sustainability solutions provider Pilio to launch the ACE Cotton Programme – ACE stands for affordable clean environment. Cotton is a significant commodity for M&S – it makes up more than half of everything the company sells across its clothing and home textiles ranges.

Through the initiative, M&S will subsidise solar technology for its cotton farming suppliers in India – both on the farm itself and in the wider community. The idea is that clean energy would normally be out of reach financially for these farmers and their families, so M&S is stepping in to foot part of the bill.

The benefits are twofold. First, it cuts carbon emissions tied to cotton production. And second, it can lower energy costs and improve energy security for farming communities – so it’s good for the planet and for people’s livelihoods. The programme will also help farmers restore nature on their land, strengthening biodiversity across M&S’s supply chain.

M&S has already been sourcing 100% of its cotton responsibly through the Better Cotton Initiative since 2019. This new programme builds on top of that.

EU regulation a step nearer

The European Council has officially signed off on major changes to the EU’s corporate sustainability reporting rules.

The two laws being scaled back are the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive and the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive. Both have been heavily debated, and this simplification has been in the works for nearly a year.

So what’s changing? The new thresholds are much higher, meaning far fewer companies will need to comply. Estimates suggest around 90% of businesses previously caught by the CSRD will now fall outside its scope. For the CSDDD, that figure is around 70%.

Deadlines are also being pushed back. The next wave of CSRD companies now has until 2028, while CSDDD compliance won’t kick in until 2029. The legislation still, of course, needs to be adopted at the national level across EU member states.

Measuring actual emissions

A group of 13 investors managing over $1.2 trillion dollars in assets have criticised one of the world’s most influential carbon reporting frameworks, saying it’s no longer fit for purpose.

NGO ShareAction convened the investors in a public statement, urging the GHG Protocol to update its scope 2 emissions guidance. Under the current rules, a company can report zero emissions from its electricity, even if that electricity was generated by burning fossil fuels. They can do this by buying green energy tariffs or matching their annual energy use with renewable certificates. But critics say this masks the true carbon picture.

The investors want the GHG Protocol to move to hourly matching, so companies must show their electricity is actually clean at the time they’re using it, not just on paper across the whole year. They also want clearer rules about local energy supply, so companies can only claim clean electricity that’s genuinely available in the grid where they operate.

The GHG Protocol said it’s currently working through nearly 1,400 consultation responses on exactly this topic.

Not meat

The EU has decided to ban the use of traditional meat names such as “chicken”, “beef” and “pork” for plant-based alternatives. In total, 31 terms are affected, including “steak” and “liver”, though words including “burger”, “sausage” and “nuggets” are exempt. Fish-related names are also excluded.

The restrictions extend pre-emptively to novel foods, including cellular agriculture, even though these products aren’t yet widely available in the EU.

Critics, including consumer and plant‑based industry groups, argue the move is unnecessary and could create confusion and extra costs for producers who have long used these names to help shoppers understand plant‑based alternatives.

The legislation still needs formal approval by EU member states and the European parliament, but that is expected to be largely procedural. If adopted, producers would have a transition period to adjust product names and packaging. As with the plant-based milk story we covered recently, this feels like another big win for the meat and dairy industry.

Green spuds?

Shoppers in the UK will be able to add “highly sustainable” potatoes for the first time to their weekly shopping lists.

Retailer Tesco has launched a new initiative by stocking low‑carbon potatoes from a specially designed “concept farm”, one of the UK’s first retail tests of climate‑friendly produce in mainstream stores.

The partnership with growers focuses on reducing emissions across the farm lifecycle, using precision agronomy, lower‑impact fertilisers, improved nitrogen management and renewable energy. The result of this is potatoes with a significantly smaller carbon footprint than conventional equivalents.

This launch is part of a broader Tesco strategy to explore low‑carbon food production at scale and understand whether shoppers are willing to choose products with a climate benefit and potentially pay a premium for them. Early results from the trial will help Tesco and its supply partners gauge consumer appetite for sustainably grown produce, inform future sourcing, and shape how climate impact is communicated at point of sale.