OurCoop recognised for its green energy transformation

OurCoop has been recognised with a Bronze award in the Transformation Project of the Year category at the Global Sustainability Awards, recognising the Society’s work to transform how we use, source and support renewable energy.

The award recognises the scale and ambition of OurCoop’s green energy transformation – from generating renewable electricity across our own sites to working with communities to help create and own clean energy.

Making a difference through co-operation

Since OurCoop was formed in January 2026, bringing together Central Co-op, The Midcounties Co-operative and Chelmsford Star Co-operative, we have been able to build on the combined scale and experience of three Societies.

That scale is helping us take a different approach to sustainability. Rather than simply reducing our own carbon footprint, we’re looking at how co-operation can help create wider change.

Across OurCoop, solar panels are now installed at more than 130 sites, generating around 4.7 GWh of renewable electricity over the past 12 months and saving more than 800 tonnes of CO₂.

We’re also sourcing renewable energy through long-term agreements, including Corporate Power Purchase Agreements linked to the London Array offshore wind farm. One agreement, led by OurCoop on behalf of five independent co-operatives, can provide up to 56 GWh of green electricity each year.

Together, our wind and solar generation currently provides around 22% of OurCoop’s energy use.

Supporting community-owned energy

Our work doesn’t stop at our own sites.

Through Younity, our joint venture with Octopus Energy, OurCoop supports almost 300 renewable power purchase agreements across 100 community energy organisations, helping local projects generate and benefit from clean energy.

Younity provides community energy organisations with bespoke PPAs, funding and practical support to overcome some of the barriers that can prevent projects from growing. It has also supported organisations through grant funding to support social impact projects and launched Community Energy Connect, a free volunteer matchmaking platform enabling volunteers to find opportunities within the community energy sector.

OurCoop and Younity have also developed consumer-facing innovation through the Community Power Tariff, which is powered entirely by community-generated electricity.

Using less energy too

Generating and sourcing renewable energy is only part of the picture. We’re also looking at how we can reduce the amount of energy we use across our estate.

Remote monitoring and automation across heating and refrigeration systems in more than 200 FoodCoop stores has helped reduce energy use by 2.5 GWh since 2024, saving more than 400 tonnes of CO₂ and around £500,000 in annual electricity costs.

Smart metering, detailed reporting and site-level energy-saving plans are helping colleagues understand where changes can be made and how those changes contribute to our wider goals.

A model built on co-operation

The Global Sustainability Awards recognition is a great acknowledgement of the progress being made, but the real value of this work is the potential to create change beyond OurCoop.

By combining our scale with the co-operative principle of working together for the benefit of communities, we can help demonstrate what is possible when organisations share resources, knowledge and ambition.

Our long-term aim is to become increasingly self-sufficient in green energy, while continuing to support communities to generate and benefit from their own renewable power.

It’s an approach that shows sustainability and co-operation can go hand in hand – creating practical benefits for OurCoop, our Members, our communities and the wider environment.