Stakeholder Accountability in the UK Supermarket Sector Final Report of the ‘ Race to the Top ’ Project

Abstract

This document records the experiences of a project entitled Race to the Top: tracking supermarket progress towards a fairer and greener food system. The project was coordinated by the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), an independent, nonprofit policy research institute, but involved (to varying degrees) the top ten UK supermarket companies (by market share); twenty-four other civil society organisations, and many other individuals and organisations.This report is written by IIED, and seeks to record and reflect on the lessons learned from the project’s threeyear life in relation to the process itself, the methodologies that were applied, and the content of the indicators that were developed. It also draws on feedback from project stakeholders submitted in response to a short survey circulated in early 2004, and various conversations and correspondence throughout the life of the project. However, the views expressed in this report are those of the authors alone.