July 2022

ALDI publishes “UN Global Compact Progress Report for 2021”

The ALDI SOUTH Group has published its fourth progress report and is reconfirming its support of the ten principles of the United Nations Global Compact. We know that by embedding sustainability across all aspects of our business, our organisation will have a more positive impact in tackling global challenges relating to the critical areas of respecting human rights, improving resource efficiency, realising zero carbon emissions and being an employer of choice.

The ALDI SOUTH Group was the first discount food retailer to join the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC) in 2017. The United Nations Global Compact is a call to companies everywhere to align their operations and strategies with the ten universally accepted principles and to take action in support of UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Our recently published report for the year 2021 communicates our progress made in implementing the UN Global Compact’s principles in both strategy and day-to-day operations and also reflects our International Corporate Responsibility (CR) Strategy, which continues to build on our previous achievements and commitments.

Selected Highlights 2021

Human Rights

Gender equality: ALDI publishes its first “International Policy on Gender Equality for ALDI’s supply chains”.
Living wages & incomes: ALDI publishes its “International Position Statement on Living Wages and Living Incomes” and is implementing a joint pilot project to promote a decent standard of living for banana farm workers.
Human rights impact assessments: The publication of ALDI’s first three Human Rights Impact Assessments (HRIA) for avocados, Brazil nuts and coffee, represents an important step to bringing ALDI’s Vision 2030 on human rights to life.

Labour

ALDI Factory Advancement Project: ALDI successfully completes the ALDI Factory Advancement Project in Bangladesh and recognises significant improvement in workplace cooperation between workers and managers.
Forced labour: ALDI publishes its “International Policy on Forced Labour” to promote fair and safe workplaces.
Grievance mechanisms: ALDI pilots amfori’s “Speak for Change” grievance mechanism programme to support workers’ rights and also - together with the “Issara Institute” - starts a project on grievance mechanisms in Thailand.

Environment

Renewable energy: As of 2021, all ALDI countries are procuring green electricity with ALDI Australia achieving its commitment to power its operations with 100% renewable electricity, and ALDI China also committing to 100% green electricity.
Plastic packaging: To reduce the use of raw materials in plastic packaging and to promote a circular economy, ALDI is committed to using an average of 30% of recycled content in plastic packaging across the Group by 2025.
Project on the ground: ALDI completes a smallholder palm oil farmers project in Cote d’Ivoire, paving the way for more sustainable practices and forest restoration.

Anti-corruption

Assessments: Since 2020, all high-priority food and non-food supply chains are integrated into ALDI’s Social Monitoring Programme (SMP). ALDI conducts 260 ALDI Social Assessments (ASAs) in non-food production facilities and 53 ALDI Producer Assessments (APAs) on banana and pineapple farms and plantations to evaluate compliance with ALDI’s CR requirements.
Supplier evaluation: ALDI conducted a pilot CRSE for the ALDI canned tuna supply chain in 2021.

Performance

By measuring our strategic performance on a regular basis, we are continuously validating the effectiveness of our actions and highlight the areas where we are already making strong progress as well as other areas where further action is still required.
Learn more about the significant progress we have made towards our international CR strategy in 2021 here.

“ALDI strives to support its customers in making sustainable choices and brings sustainable and responsibly sourced products onto everybody’s plate. Our "Communication on Progress Report 2021” shows that we are continuing to progress towards bringing our Vision 2030 to life and that our everyday actions are helping deliver positive change to social and environmental challenges.”

Anke Ehlers, Managing Director of Corporate Responsibility International at ALDI SOUTH Group