Ahold working with suppliers to reduce carbon emissions

Ahold Delhaize has updated its sustainability platform that aims to reduce carbon emissions from the value chain by 50% by 2030, this includes its own store operations and engaging supplier partners to address the issue.

A new initiative from the update is to have Ahold’s banners partner with suppliers, as well as engage consumers, to reduce their emissions from the value chain by 15% by 2030. The goal means Ahold and its banners will increase the assortment of low-carbon products being offered from national partners and own brands, reducing overall food and packaging waste.

Ahold had previously committed to this goal among a list of targets that included all own brand products to be baselined against science-based nutritional navigation systems and further sales of healthy own brand products to more than half of total own brand food sales, and for all own brand packaging to be recyclable by 2025 and 25% of own brand plastic packaging be made from recyclable materials.

Ahold’s banners include Food Lion, Giant Food, Giant/Martin’s, Hannaford, Stop & Shop. For Food Lion, the chain just announced it is updating own brand packaging to have clear on-pack Bioengineered Food labeling.

The company’s latest announcement is part of the company’s ongoing commitment to reduce its carbon footprint and mitigate climate change.

“Climate change is impacting our planet and how our food is grown, and it will continue to change our business into the future,” said Frans Muller, CEO of Ahold Delhaize. “By setting ambitious new targets and by becoming a supporter of the Task Force on Climate-related Disclosures, Ahold Delhaize is committing to taking a leading role in mitigating this global crisis and preparing for a more resilient and healthy future”. 

These new targets come as the company already is on track to achieve its 2020 goal to reduce relative emissions by 30% from 2008. They follow Ahold Delhaize’s commitment in March 2019 to the Science Based Targets initiative. The initiative has assessed and approved the targets as being in line with the latest climate science.