Climate Action

 

Climate change has business implications. These include rising energy costs and the need to reduce CO2 emissions. We believe in acting on facts. So we are currently conducting in-depth research to provide us with a clear way forward. The results will dictate the targets we set.

 

While retailers, in general, have a relatively low environmental impact, we strive to make our operations as efficient as possible in order to further reduce this impact, and we are working with suppliers and customers to help them reduce theirs. We aim to coordinate our climate action strategies with other retailers and industry bodies to help align efforts to reduce the impact of our industry. We are committed to limiting the negative environmental impacts of our supermarket, foodservice and logistics operations, to reduce waste and energy usage, to minimize the use of ozone-depleting substances and to make distribution of products to our stores and foodservice customers more efficient. 

 

Ahold has calculated the total CO₂ emissions of 2008 and has set a target. We will reduce our carbon emissions by 20% per square meter by 2015.

 

We strive to reduce waste and encourage consumers and employees to recycle. We also recommend to our stores that glass, organic waste, metals, hard plastics are recycled and that organic waste is separated into fat and other organic and the last is biodegraded or composted.

 

We aim to continue developing incentives for consumers to use reusable bags with the use of consumer information, as well as to carry out information campaigns and attractive and affordable alternatives to traditional non-reusable plastic bags. In order to reduce the amount of plastic bags used, all of our supermarket companies offer reusable shopping bags and numerous opportunities to recycle plastic bags. In many of our operations, we charge consumers a small sum for plastic bags to discourage their use.

 

We strive to ensure the responsible management of natural resources in order to guarantee access to quality food while ensuring long-term sustainable agricultural, forestry and fishing practices which help to preserve biological diversity.