The UK's biggest retailers, Asda and Tesco, have made public plans to reduce their environmental impact in 2010 in moves that have been welcomed by packaging commentators.

Last month, Asda announced it would launch its packaging scorecard in 2010, while Tesco revealed plans to cut the carbon footprint of its entire supply chain by 30% by 2020.

Asda’s parent company Wal-Mart began using a packaging scorecard in the US in February 2008, after a year-long trial. It was previously expected to be launched in the UK this year, but the retailer has now said this will be in early 2010.

An Asda spokeswoman told Packaging News the company was still finalising and testing the version that will be used in the UK.

The scorecard evaluates packaging against a range of criteria, including greenhouse gases, substrate material choices and chemical composition.

The news followed the announcement by Tesco chief executive Sir Terry Leahy earlier in the month that the supermarket giant would focus on consumer behaviour as it aimed to become a zero-carbon operation by 2050.

For the firm’s suppliers, including packaging groups, the key project will be a bid to achieve a 30% reduction in the carbon impact of the products in Tesco’s supply chain by 2020.

Incpen director Jane Bicker-staffe welcomed the targets. It has to be a good thing that retailers are paying attention to the environment, she said.

Tesco already publishes the carbon footprints of 114 products on its labels and is aiming to work out the carbon footprints of 500 products by the end of the year.

Leahy said: For Tesco, a revolution in green consumption is a fantastic opportunity to break the link between consumption and emissions once and for all, and in doing so satisfy a new consumer need and grow our business.