Tesco claims to have become the first UK retailer to set a sales target for plant-based meat alternatives, as it commits to a 300% sales increase by 2025.

The target, which was set using a 2018 baseline figure, stands alongside a wider set of sustainability commitments which Tesco has developed with its partner the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).

The retailer has set out a range of measures centred around availability, affordability, innovation and visibility to help it reach its sales target.

These include introducing, and expanding the availability of plant-based meat alternatives across all its stores, with products across 20 different categories including ready meals, sausages, burgers and party food.

In addition, the retailer says that it will ‘invest in value’ so that affordability is not a barrier to buying meat alternative products, while it will also work with suppliers to bring new innovations to customers.

In an effort to boost the visibility of plant-based meats, Tesco says that it will display a meat alternative where a meat product is featured.

Tesco has also committed to publishing the sales of plant-based proteins as a percentage of overall protein sales every year to track its progress.

As part of their partnership, Tesco and WWF previously introduced the ‘sustainable basket metric’ as the retailer aims to halve the environmental impact of the average UK shopping basket.

The metric measures environmental impacts of food across seven different categories, such as climate change, deforestation, marine sustainability and packaging waste. So far, the retailer says that it has achieved 11% of its target.

“Our transparency on protein sales and our new sales target for meat alternatives gives us the platform to become more sustainable and will provide customers with even more choice,” said Tesco CEO, Dave Lewis.

“These measures are just part of the work we’re doing with WWF, bringing together for the first time a host of sustainability metrics to help us halve the environmental impact of food production.

“We can’t accomplish the transformational change needed for a truly sustainable food system on our own, so we’re calling on the whole industry to play its role, starting with increased transparency on its sustainability impacts.”

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