Marks and Spencer store

UK retailers The Cooperative Group and Marks & Spencer (M&S) have been named as the country's 'greenest' supermarkets in a new survey that highlights progress in areas such as sustainability and ethical sourcing.

The survey, released by Ethical Consumer magazine, measured the environmental and ethical performance of 19 of the UK's leading supermarkets and convenience stores, including detailed analysis of the companies' corporate social responsibility reports.

According to greenwisebusiness.co.uk, there was a clear divide between the top two performers and the 17 other retailers, with Tesco, Asda and Netto identified as the three worst performing groups.

'If you are lucky enough to live close to an independent shop that has an ethical stocking policy then this is where we would recommend people to shop,' said Rob Harrison of Ethical Consumer, the co-author of the buyers' guide. 'However, the reality is that the vast majority of us now shop in supermarkets and we would therefore urge shopper to choose either the Co-op or M&S.

'These two companies have made genuine efforts to reduce the environmental and ethical impact of their operations and have demonstrated that they are setting the environmental agenda for supermarkets,' he added.