Sustainable Procurement News

Having a well-defined sourcing policy demonstrates a retailer’s commitment to sustainability, while mitigating the risk of the reputational damage associated with unsustainable practices, particularly in the palm oil supply chain.

One of the most effective ways for retailers to ensure the sustainability of their palm oil supply chain is by partnering with organisations like the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO).

More than 80 retailers worldwide have joined the RSPO since its inception in 2004, with over half headquartered in Europe. Within the region, British, Dutch and German retailers are leading the way.

Swiss-based sustainability group Better Cotton said on Thursday it has added new functions to a platform that big retailers use to trace materials through their supply chains.

Better Cotton said retailers including Walmart and Marks and Spencer will be able to tell where cotton was grown and traded, eventually to the level of individual farms. Currently the platform tracks only the total volume of cotton produced.

Jacky Broomhead, Better Cotton senior manager, said the current functionality is much like an electrical customer who knows the sources of generation feeding their local grid, but not to individual houses. “The changes mean you’ll you know what you’re getting. You’ll be able to see the journey the cotton has taken to you as a retailer,” she said.

EuroCommerce, which represents the retail and wholesale trade in Europe, has welcomed the European Parliament’s approval of a draft law that would make it mandatory for large companies to check whether their suppliers are using child labour or damaging the environment.

Commenting on the outcome of the vote, EuroCommerce director-general Christel Delberghe, said, "The Parliament has already improved the proposal in many respects, and we were pleased to note that several of the concerns and recommendations highlighted by stakeholders were taken into account.

"Concerning the upcoming trilogues, we urge the co-legislators to further improve the text to ensure the end goal of delivering a practical, harmonised, and realistic EU Due Diligence Directive."

Portuguese supermarket and hypermarket banner Continente has introduced a new refill service in two of its outlets.

The ‘Refill Spot by Continente’ is a pilot project which allows customers to reuse packages when buying detergents, dry food and dog and cat food, saving money in the process and promoting a circular economy.

Owing to its vast Scope 3 footprint, the retail industry at large accounts for over 25% of global emissions and 40% of the global plastic usage. Wary of the situation, and faced with consumer and legislation-induced pressure, the retail industry is starting to act.

An Oxford Economics study showed that 52% of the organizations had commenced sourcing sustainable materials for product manufacturing or merchandising, and 62% claim to have sustainability plans in place. And yet, just under 20% of the retailers are on course to curb their emissions and prevent the rise in global temperatures (of no more than a 1.5⁰C).

Sustainability has become a top priority for many consumers, and retailers are responding. A Deloitte report showed that 55% of consumers surveyed recently bought a sustainable product or service. In response to growing demand for eco-friendly products, retailers are trying to reduce their impact on the environment. They’re working to combat the effects of climate change, reduce waste, and eliminate their carbon footprint.

The sustainability trends for 2023 go beyond eco-friendliness, however. They also include measures aimed at improving working conditions and employee well-being.
In order to meet these sweeping goals, companies rely on data and technology.

Sustainability trends 2023 reshaping retail
The United Nations World Commission on Environment and Development defined sustainable development as “meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”

In other words, it’s a way to preserve resources, care about the environment, and build a better, safer reality for all.

Here’s our breakdown of some of the biggest sustainability trends impacting retail in 2023:
1. Greater transparency, increased regulation
2. Focus on improving delivery to reduce the carbon footprint
3. Rise of the circular economy
4. Eco-friendly, fair workplaces
5. Ethical supply chain
6. Growing role of data and AI in sustainability efforts
7. Reliance on cloud technology

The Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) has published guidance for businesses preparing for the UK-wide ban on single-use vapes, which comes into force on 1 June 2025.

From this date, it will be illegal for businesses to sell, offer to sell, or possess for sale any single-use vaping devices, regardless of whether they contain nicotine. The ban applies to both online and in-store sales across England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland.

McCormick & Company is a food company that manufactures, markets, and distributes spices, seasoning mixes, condiments, and other flavoring products to retail outlets, food manufacturers, and food service businesses. The Baltimore-based company has 14,000 employees based worldwide. Its investments have tangible benefits for farmers and customers and throughout its supply chain.

It is doubling down on its commitment to climate change, environmental compliance, and raw material procurement. It aims to be net zero in 2050, and it has joined the UN”s Science-Based Targets Initiative, which wants to keep temperatures from rising more than 1.5 degrees Celsius. At the same time, the company has made significant progress toward its sustainable packaging goals.

“We continue to significantly invest in energy-efficient facilities and renewable energy resources across our business. We’ve recently completed construction on McCormick’s new manufacturing site in Peterborough, UK, which is on track to become the company’s first Net Zero Carbon building. Additionally, we’re investing in renewable electricity to power 100% of our North American facilities in Maryland, New Jersey, and Texas through Project Skipjack and Big Star Solar,” the company says.

Dutch supermarket operator Ahold Delhaize stated that it is planning to reduce carbon dioxide emissions for its operation by 50% by 2030 and to become net-zero by 2040. The company also is seeking for its entire value chain to reduce carbon emissions by at least 37% by 2030 and to become net-zero by 2050, while ensuring that all of its climate targets are in line with the United Nations’ goal of keeping global warming below 1.5°C, Ahold Delhaize said.

“As a group of mainstream supermarkets and retailers, we want to provide customers with sustainable and healthy products, while keeping shelf availability and affordability top of mind,” Jan Ernst de Groot, Ahold Delhaize chief sustainability officer, said in a statement. 

“Our commitment is to future generations, to continue to play a leading role in the transition to a more sustainable food system,” he added. “We are proud of frontrunners like Albert Heijn, who inspire other brands within the Ahold Delhaize group, and the sector, to take sustainability performance to the next level in their market.” 

It took two years of education and negotiation, but the ink is drying on the first aggregated power purchase agreement orchestrated under Walmart’s renewable energy acceleration for suppliers, officially known as Gigaton PPA.

The transaction covers an annual purchase of about 250,000 megawatt-hours of power from the Ørsted Sunflower Wind Farm in Marion County, Kansas, slated to come online this year. The buyers include Amy’s Kitchen, Great Lakes Cheese, Levi Strauss & Co., The J.M. Smucker Co. and Valvoline. Other terms of the deal weren’t disclosed.

The Gigaton PPA initiative, announced in early 2020 when the market for corporate PPAs was quite different, is part of the global retailer’s five-year-old Project Gigaton, which aims to help reduce or avoid 1 billion metric tons within Walmart’s value chain by 2030. Last month, Walmart announced that the roughly 4,500 suppliers who joined the program are more than halfway toward that goal. 

The renewable power resource is a newer part of the effort, one that attracted more than 450 companies when it was first announced in 2020, according to officials responsible for managing the effort. The initiative centers on providing training and resources to help suppliers invest in renewable energy. "It was very timely for a lot of suppliers," said Zach Freeze, senior director of strategic initiatives, sustainability, at Walmart. "They were interested in getting into this world, and they didn’t know how."