We’re extremely pleased to have played a part in The Midcounties Co-operative’s journey to winning Sustainability Initiative of the Year at the 2025 Grocer Gold Awards. This included a commendation for their work with community energy partners in particular.
Sustainability efforts have included:
- Reduced electricity usage by 6% in the past year and cut direct greenhouse gas emissions associated with energy usage by 39% since 2019
- installed more than 350 solar panels across selected sites with partners at Big Solar Co-op, generating over 130,000 kWh of clean energy annually
- diverted 129,000 food items to help feed over 2,500 households through partnerships with Olio
Mike Pickering, head of sustainability at Midcounties, added: “We’re incredibly proud to be recognised on a national stage for putting our sustainability commitments into action. From cutting emissions and food waste to generating green energy, we’re showing what’s possible when businesses work with their communities and act on what matters most to their members.”
The Big Solar Co-op is working in partnership with the Midcounties Co-operative on a rollout of PV arrays at its sites across the Midlands. This represents generation potential of up to 5 Gigawatt hours of low carbon electricity in the near future. The sites include offices and childcare settings as well as supermarkets. The installations started in 2024 and continue into 2026 as we work our way around all the viable roofs in their portfolio.
It’s particularly satisfying to be working with another co-op and maximising the benefits for their members and ours, while putting in place new solar that will reduce carbon emissions for decades to come. The United Nations (UN) officially designated 2025 as the International Year of Co-operatives (IYC2025), a global initiative aimed at recognising and promoting the invaluable contributions of co-operatives to sustainable development, economic inclusion, and community resilience.
