co-op

Update, December 2009: John West introduces new sustainability policy »

Last year we published our tinned tuna league table, ranking the main retailers and brands on the overall sustainability of their canned tuna. Tinned tuna, which is normally skipjack (the most common variety), is a food cupboard staple in the UK, and we are the second biggest consumers in the world, so we can have a massive impact on improving the sustainability of the fishing that fills the tins.

As well as assessing the information given on the tins (some didn’t even tell you what species was inside!) we also evaluated the impact of how the fish were being caught, and the company's overall sourcing policies.

This female Caribbean Reef Shark in Roatan apparently survived a finning - most do not © CC yukikokubo

Tesco have just announced that they're going to stop selling shark fins in their stores in Thailand.

This follows some bad press on the issue and subsequent lobbying by the Shark Trust to clean up their act.

Sharks are a dividing issue with people – some people love them and are fascinated by them, others are terrified of them. Whilst sharks have an ferocious and fearsome reputation, and any shark attack or alleged sightings of man-eating great whites off Cornwall make the news, we rarely hear of the impact we humans are having on sharks. And we are having an enormous impact.

Something that happened a few weeks ago but has slipped through the net is that Sainsbury's has announced an improved policy on light bulbs. By committing to phasing out those wasteful incandescent bulbs by 2010, they join Asda and Morrisons (who also recently shifted their stance) further up our league table. That still only gives them a D, but it leaves three supermarkets lower down - Tesco and the Co-op at E and Somerfield a disappointing F.

Meanwhile, there's been no further word from wooden spoon winners Woolworths since their CEO's response to our day of action, but we're still working on them. You may have been invited to sign a 'Seize the Light' flag outside you local branch, as groups of Greenpeace volunteers (like the Blackburn group pictured) have been collecting signatures to show Woolworths that their customers want them to help everyone improve their energy efficiency by getting rid of out-dated, inefficient light bulbs.

If you haven't emailed Woolworth CEO Trevor Bish-Jones, now's the time - everyone who's done so has received a personal response, and you could be one of those lucky people. Or if you fancy a bit of flag-signing, contact your local Greenpeace volunteer group and find out how you can help everyone make the switch.

Well, all of them, but the Co-op has made a fine start. The supermarket has announced that it’s going to remove all inefficient light bulbs from its shelves within a few months.