Tesco still continues to ignore the suffering caused by Biofuels

Dear Scott,

Thank you for your email and thank you for continuing to reply, despite Gary Anderson's previous comment that he would not send any more emails.

I am clearly dissapointed that Tesco seems to have moved so far back from the position that Gary previously presented; he said that "To help us and others understand the true impact of biofuels we have asked the independent Sustainable Consumption Institute (SCI) based at Manchester University to investigate" and went on to say "All of the research by the SCI will be made public and we would be happy to send you the findings on biofuels." To hear now that my legitimate prostests and those of others are simply going to be logged in the policy deperatment, when Ryan Fitzpatrick has already said there will be no policy change is an insult.

You may at least want to explain why your fuel is sold with a 5% blend of ethanol when the RTFO only mandates 2.5%.

This email will be published on my blog, http://kevsclimatecolumn.blogspot.com/

Regards,
Kevin Lister

Tesco Customer Service wrote:

Thank you for your email.

I'm sorry that you are still unhappy with our stance on Bio Fuels.

The information given to you by Ryan Fitzpatrick is up to date and correct. I would like to reassure you that I have logged your additional comments. They will be passed to our Policy department.

Thank you for taking the time and trouble to share you further comments with us.

If you have any further queries please do not hesitate to contact us at customer.service@tesco.co.uk quoting TES4850407X.

Kind Regards
Scott MacKay
Tesco Customer Service

Tesco back tracks on bio fuels

Dear Gary,

Since your previous commitments to review the sustainability of bio fuels, I have had the following email forwarded onto me by Ryan Fitzpatrick which totally contradicts the claims that you made to me.

It now appears that your organisation is not prepared to do anything to reduce its dependence on biofuels irrespective of the results from the sustainability study that you claim you will be instigating.

As you may be aware Jean Ziegler from the United Nations has condemned the growing use of crops to produce biofuels as a replacement for petrol as a crime against humanity. This concern is backed up the the IMF and the last Environemental Select Committee report which concludes that biofuels are generally an expensive and ineffective way to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

Given the contradictory emails and the growing evidence against their use, it is now time to confirm exactly what the position of your executive board is on this subject.

Regards,
Kevin Lister

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From: Tesco Customer Service Subject: TES4842214X

Re: Thank you for your email. In terms of LPG and "greeness", the UK Government has taken the stancethat Bio fuels are the way forward in terms of reducing green house gasemissions and as such have made it mandatory for all suppliers to sell fuel containing biofuels starting in 2008 (as opposed to LPG).

Therefore, we have no intention of abandoning biofuel.

Please accept my sincere apologies for any disappointment this answermay cause.

Thank you for taking the time to ask us about this.

If you have any further queries please do not hesitate to contact us at ustomer.service@tesco.co.uk quoting TES4842214X.

Kind RegardsRyan Fitzpatrick

Tesco Customer Service----- Original Message -----

From: XXXXXXXXXXXX
Date: 07 March 2008Subject:

Hi,

I would like to start shopping again at Tesco.

Before I do, in view of the very extensive information, about the threat to world food supplies that the rush to biofuels is causing, could youplease confirm that you will now abandon you biofuel policy.

YoursXXXXXXXX

Tesco's final comment on biofuels - but not ours

Dear Gary,

Thankyou for your reply, however the dismissive tone of your response causes me real concern and forces me to question when ever or not you are taking the critical issues that we have highlighted seriously and if the review that you are highlighting has the full support of Tesco's board.

I have asked for nothing difficult from you and have only asked for things that you effectively claimed that you have.

You said that scientific evidence supported growing crops in the tropics. I asked for copies of the evidence. You provided none.

You said that Greenergy asks suppliers, who are all members of the RSPO, to sign a sustainability commitment as part of their contract which can be audited at any time. I asked for copies of the audit. You provided none.

You have now stated that there are some small amounts of Palm Oil in your biofuels. I asked you to quantify what this amount was. You provided nothing.

As you can see, your organisation has not won the trust of the sceptics. I have now simply asked that you confirm Terry Leahy supports the review that you have referred to and to give us timescales for when the review is to be carried out and what its remit will be. This is not a difficult question. You still have provided us with nothing.

You may consider your last email to be your final response on this matter. I can assure you we do not. Our food prices are rocketing and the tropics are being destroyed. We will not passively sit by and watch this situation develop. Protests have already been held at Tesco stores around the country. If you consider that your email is genuinely the last word on the matter, we will be left with no opportunity other than to exercise our rights and step up the protests.

Regards,
Kevin Lister

Tesco Customer Service wrote:

Dear Mr Lister

Thank you for your further email.

Once again, I do thank you for your comments on the use of biofuels.

In my previous replies I have fully outlined our position on this issue, and have also assured you that your further comments have been noted and will be taken into account when our policies are reviewed.

As such, I regret that I have nothing further to add and consider this our final response.

Kind Regards

Gary Anderson

Customer Service Executive

Tesco timescale for biofuel analysis??

Dear Gary,

Thank you for you reply. I am delighted that you find my feedback incredibly valuable and that my comments have been noted.

However, as you are probably aware by now, you have given me reason to be sceptical on many of your positions. You have said that you are going to commission Manchester University to look at biofuels and that you will make the findings of this publicly available.

Unfortunately you have given no timescale for this study and we would request that you also provide a copy of the remit for this study. It is clearly concerning that your organisation is paying £25million towards this group as this will compromise its independence.

As you are probably aware, many people have been following our debate on my blog. I have been contacted by several people to confirm exactly what your position is in Tesco's hierarchy and to confirm that your change of position does have the endorsement of your executive board.

Regards,
Kevin Lister


Tesco Customer Service wrote:

Dear Mr Lister

Thank you for your further comments regarding the use of biofuels.

We fully appreciate feedback from our customers on any issue and find this feedback incredibly valuable. Please rest assured that your comments and thoughts have been noted, and that we are working hard to ensure that the right decisions are made for both the environment and our customers.

Thank you for your continuing interest in this matter.
Kind Regards
Gary Anderson
Customer Service Executive