Carrefour is to invest a further Yn50m to Yn60m (£4m to £5m) in greener stores after saving Yn100m (£9m) last year, compared with 2005 – when it first started the energy-saving investments in stores.

Carrefour China said: “All of the 139 Carrefour stores in China are in the process of implementing measures to reduce energy use. In Shanghai we have a central monitoring centre controlling the energy-saving facilities of our stores.”

Carrefour’s next goal is to reduce its Chinese stores’ energy consumption 10% this year.