Aldi Nabs Honors From the EPA

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has recognized Aldi for having the most GreenChill Certified Stores of any food retail company, the fourth year in a row the grocer has received the honor. 

Additionally, the EPA also awarded 21 Aldi stores with Store Recertification Excellence honors for receiving GreenChill store Certifications for five consecutive years. 

GreenChill Certification is awarded to stores that replace standard commercial refrigerants with environmentally friendlier refrigerants that keep their greenhouse gas emissions as close to zero as possible.

"We share our customers' passion for protecting the environment, so working to reduce our carbon footprint is a major focus for us,” said Dan Gavin, vice president of National Real Estate at Aldi. “Being recognized as a leader in sustainability by the EPA time and time again makes our work stand out and is something truly special. We're working to decrease our overall impact on the climate more and more each day, with each step bringing us that much closer to becoming 'real zero,' or completely emissions-free.”

In the first half of the year, 19 Aldi stores received their first GreenChill Certification, with more than 100 stores planning to apply for their first certifications by the end of 2022. This could bring the total number of certified Aldi stores across the country to nearly 610. 

Among these newly certified stores was the 500th store to switch over to environmentally friendly refrigerants, located in Mobile, Alabama, which received the Platinum Certification, the highest level available. This milestone is significant because CO2 refrigeration systems require high pressure to operate, which is challenging to achieve in warm, humid climates.

The transition to natural refrigerants has lowered the global warming potential of emissions from Aldi, decreasing the impact the company has made on the climate