Climate, Agriculture & Sustainable Products
Climate
We are aware that our business activities have a significant impact on the climate and the environment. The ALDI SOUTH Group is working towards net-zero by reducing carbon emissions in our own operations and along our supply chains.
How climate change can affect us
The realities of climate change are far-reaching and impact not only our business – producers, suppliers, and customers are also bearing the brunt of global warming. Our environments are changing, and extreme weather events are becoming more frequent, affecting crop yield and livestock productivity. Rising global temperatures threatens our marine ecosystems.
The future of food is uncertain, and we must take action to limit the effects of global warming. Examples of food commodities that have been affected by climate change include Brazil nuts and coffee supply chains in South and Latin America where extreme weather events have had detrimental consequences. Customers are paying the price, as limited availability leads to increased prices.
At ALDI, we know that our business activities have a significant impact on the climate and environment. It is critical to reduce our carbon footprint to mitigate the negative impacts of climate change, limit environmental risks to our business, and create a better future for people and the planet.
Our goals:
We contribute to limiting global warming to well below 2°C by reducing 26% of our operational emissions by 2025 compared to a baseline of 2016. We also submitted updated science-based near-term and net-zero targets, which are currently being validated by the Science Based Target initiative.
Working towards net-zero
Net-zero means that we are no longer adding to the total amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. At ALDI, we are working to minimise the impact of our corporate activities by lowering our greenhouse gas emissions and ensuring that we offer products that have minimal impact on the climate. In 2020, we were amongst the first international food retailers with a company-wide approved Science Based Target (SBT) and we have been reporting our Corporate Carbon Footprint since 2012. We focus our efforts on emissions directly related to our corporate activities, as well as indirect emissions in our upstream and downstream supply chains. As part of our wider commitment, we will work with our business partners to help them reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and promote climate protection projects along our supply chains.
ALDI's carbon footprint
Our operational emissions – the emissions from sources that we own and control – make up less than 1% of the greenhouse gas emissions within our entire value chain. This includes emissions from electricity use, refrigeration, heating sources and transportation. We have made significant progress in reducing the direct (scope 1) and indirect (scope 2) emissions within our operations. Since 2022, the ALDI SOUTH Group has been purchasing green electricity across all its markets. More than 99% of electricity used in our stores, regional distribution centres and offices comes from renewable energy sources. We have also implemented natural refrigerants within several markets.
The remainder of greenhouse gas emissions (99%) are made up of indirect emissions (scope 3) within our downstream and upstream supply chains with the largest part of our emissions coming from the products that we sell to our customers. As a major retailer, we are in a unique position to address the high-emitting supply chains by using our buying power and working with internal and external stakeholders to make a difference.
Our climate actions will specifically focus on reducing our carbon footprint in the following areas:
Operational emissions
- Renewable energy
- Photovoltaic systems
- Heating systems
- Refrigerants and refrigeration technology
- Car fleet
- Outbound transportation
Supply chain emissions
- Product emissions
- Inbound transportation
- Use of sold products
Alternative solutions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions
We are constantly looking at alternative sources of energy, moving away from gas and diesel towards lower carbon solutions. Our business is growing and we are committed to low-emission and energy efficiency measures in new stores and major refurbishments. More than 2300 stores and regional distribution centres are fitted with photovoltaic systems (solar panels) and more than 6700 stores are already running on natural refrigerants.
Towards a greener fleet
Everyday our logistics teams transport millions of products from distribution centres to our stores in each of our eleven ALDI markets across the globe. Each journey contributes to the greenhouse gas emissions of the ALDI SOUTH Group, and with our continued growth, unfortunately, the amount ofemissions will only increase.
We are switching to alternative fuel types, such as Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil (HVO) and implementing electric trucks across our markets. Until we have a fully green fleet, we are conserving fuel in our logistics operations in various ways. Our drivers are also trained to adapt their driving style to be more energy efficient.
Reducing Scope 3 emissions
We can make a positive difference by working with our supplies to reduce Scope 3 emissions. Together, we aim to lower product emissions from farm level to manufacturing to usage. The ALDI SOUTH Group is collaborating with suppliers to ensure that they set themselves climate targets in line with the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi). Specific commodity groups such as meat, diary, chilled convenience, and pantry will be in the spotlight as we tackle this challenge on a group-wide level.
We know that a significant amount of our indirect product emissions arises from land use, land management and land use change. The ALDI SOUTH Group therefore recognises the need to protect these sectors as well as understand our role in protecting these resources. We have set targets for reducing scope 3 emissions, specifically in the Forestry, Land and Agriculture (FLAG) sectors.
Sustainable Agriculture
Agriculture is one of the biggest drivers of nature loss and a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions. At the ALDI SOUTH Group, our business is connected to many global food systems, and we have made environmental stewardship one of the cornerstones of our sustainability strategy.
The impact of intensive farming on the environment
Decades of intensive agriculture has transformed our planet, leaving our natural resources at risk and unable to sustain a growing world population. The way in which we farm requires a lot of natural resources, particularly the amount of land we use or have converted to grow crops for animal feed or raise livestock for dairy and meat. Farming is also heavily reliant on freshwater sources, directly impacting the environment.
The overuse of pesticides and herbicides, and land management practises have compromised our soil and leads to nutrient loss and increased carbon emissions. Emissions cattle farming is a specific area contributing greatly to the carbon footprint of global agriculture. This factor, along with increasingly volatile weather patterns due to climate change, are leaving farmers, retailers, and consumers to face an uncertain future around food. By supporting sustainable agriculture and farming practices, ALDI wants to drive change for the better.
Promoting sustainable agriculture
As a retailer, we understand the importance of addressing issues such as deforestation, promoting future-fit farming practices, and over-fishing. Worldwide, the challenge is to restore biodiversity, address climate change, and feed a growing world population with nutritious, affordable food. Because of our global reach, the ALDI SOUTH Group understands the impact that we could have to drive better agricultural practises through our buying approach and conversely the negative impact we could have if we do not act.
We are promoting sustainable agricultural practices in different markets and various commodities such as fresh fruits and vegetables, coffee, cocoa, and cotton. Our actions include reducing environmental impacts in countries of origin and expanding our range of responsibly sourced fish and seafood products in line with our existing commitments.
Farming and sourcing fish & seafood responsibly
Overfishing and unregulated fishing practices endanger fish stocks and ocean biodiversity around the world. As a result, most of the seafood consumed today comes from fish farms which can be a threat to the environment. As part of the supply chain, we are jointly responsible for stopping polluting the world’s oceans and protecting our fish stocks and ocean biodiversity. The ALDI South Group is committed to sustainable fishing and fish farming practices.
Science based targets for forestry, land & agriculture
The conversion and degradation of natural forests and other natural ecosystems to make space for agricultural land is a key driver of global habitat loss. It contributes to 15% of global greenhouse gas emissions.
- Our goal is to achieve deforestation and conversion free supply chains for high priority commodities by the end of 2025.
- We are working to reduce scope 3 emissions within our supply chains by 28% by 2030.
Environmental stewardship as cornerstone of our efforts
Most of our products are not sourced directly from the producers or farmers but via our ALDI business partners. We set social and environmental standards for our partners and use reliable certification schemes. Business partners must ensure that their operations and value chains do not violate the rights of people, communities and ecosystems through environmental damage and pollution.
The ALDI Business Partner Sustainability Standards represent our minimum requirements. They include the business partner’s obligation to ensure that no violation of the rights of people, communities and ecosystems is taking place through environmental damage and pollution.
Sustainable Products
We want to enable our customers to make sustainable, affordable choices in our stores. Therefore, we plan on constantly expanding our sustainable product portfolio, using use certification, focussing on sustainable sourcing and buying practices, and increasing the recyclability and reusability of our products.
What makes a product sustainable?
Sustainability has many faces, but always the same goal: To sustain a liveable planet for future generations. As a global retailer, we want to offer our customers affordable products without depleting natural resources, damaging the environment, or harming individuals. Instead, we focus on using our buying power to drive positive change.
Every product has a social and environmental impact throughout its life cycle. We can make it more sustainable by protecting human rights and nature within all supply chain activities. Extending a product’s lifetime and designing it to be reused or recycled saves valuable resources and leads the way to a more circular economy.
Investing in a sustainable product porfolio
The ALDI SOUTH Group is a limited-line retailer offering a carefully selected range of products – about 90% of our products come from our own labels. This allows us not only to define our specific high-quality standards, it also gives us more influence over our supply chains in terms of sustainability.
Considering the variety of products we offer in our ALDI stores, we have to manage multiple supply chains all over the world. We identified certain high-priority food and non-food supply chains where environmental and social standards are particularly impacted. Find out more about our actions and goals to improve sustainability.
Using certification to drive change
Independent third-party certifications is one mechanism to strengthen sustainable practices. They help us establish better business practices that benefit workers, communities, and the environment. The ALDI SOUTH Group uses trusted certification schemes such as Fairtrade and Rainforest Alliance. We encourage our suppliers to purchase from certified farms, using our buying volume to increase certified production. Additionally, our ALDI Business Partner Sustainability Standards set minimum social and environmental requirements for all enterprises that have a business relationship with ALDI.
Less emissions from products
Energy consumption for production and transport as well as the used agricultural practices also influence the sustainability and emissions of a product. Most of our emissions at the ALDI SOUTH Group are connected to the life cycle of our products, involving especially farming but also resource-intensive production, processing, transportation, packaging and refrigeration.
To reduce these emissions, we cooperate closely with our business partners in our global supply chains. In the years to come, we plan on implementing several projects in our supply chains to reduce our product emissions and increasing the number of suppliers who set themselves climate targets. Additionally, we support our ALDI markets to buy certain commodities locally – where it makes sense – to limit transportation and reduce our carbon footprint.