Today, Co-op, the UK’s largest consumer co-operative, launches its 2025 Social Value and Sustainability Report – their 20th report demonstrating performance and impact on sustainability, ethics, and community over the past year.
As a member owned organisation, Co-op’s members have a say on what they focus on. Launched in 2025, Co-op’s Social Value Strategy is shaped by the insights and views of tens of thousands of member owners. The plan aims to deliver positive impact and lasting value for people and planet across three areas:
- Access to opportunities: Helping people find routes into education, skills and good work – especially where those things are hardest to find,
- Access to a sustainable future: Supporting members and communities to reduce their environmental impact, while cutting Co-op’s own carbon footprint.
- Access to peace of mind and wellbeing: Backing grassroots efforts that strengthen community safety, resilience and cohesion – at home and abroad.
Take a deeper look at what Co-op has achieved in 2025 on the issues that matter most to their member-owners:
Access to opportunities
- Since the partnership with Barnardo’s began, colleagues, members, suppliers and customers have raised £6.5m and supported over 750,000 young people.
- Since 2021, Co-op Levy Share has seen £42m in pledges and has funded over 3,800 apprentices from diverse backgrounds.
- The Co-op Academies Trust is one of the largest multi-academy trusts serving the north of England, with 38Academies providing an education based on Co-operative values and principles for over 20,000
Access to a sustainable future
- Opened two Sustainability Showcase stores to test changes aimed at reducing energy use and operational carbon emissions, and to share some of the practical steps they’re taking towards Net Zero operations by 2035.
- £707,000 of Co-op funding was deployed to water, sanitation and hygiene programmes with Water Unite in 2025, reaching 8,762 beneficiaries.
- Continued to be a Fairtrade leader in the UK, selling more Fairtrade flowers and wine than any other UK grocery retailer.
- Launched a new fund to help farmers adopt sustainable agricultural practices, supporting them in reducing emissions and promoting nature on their farms. By the providing £760,000of funding to British farmers in the supply chain.
- Achieved GOLDEcoVadis medal for sustainability performance, placing Co-op among the top 5% of companies assessed globally.
Access to peace of mind and wellbeing
- Partnered for the fourth year with Mind, SAMH (Scottish Action for Mental Health) and Inspire on Time to Talk Day, the UK’s largest conversation about mental health and wellbeing, seeing over 3 million conversations happen around mental wellbeing.
- Launched our Peace and Co-operation campaign to ensure co-operation becomes a core part of how communities affected by conflict and division, both overseas and in the UK, are supported.
- Partnered with The Big Lunch to encourage members across the UK to connect with their communities over food. In 2025, 10.5 million people participated across Great Britain and Northern Ireland, including an estimated 1.07 million Co-op Members.
The Report is independently assured by DNV.
Read more about our 2025 annual results here.