A 15% reduction across the REWE and PENNY value chains
According to the 2020 World Risk Report, climate change is the biggest threat to humanity – and the most significant challenge of our time. REWE Group is therefore resolutely pursuing its own climate-protection policy with its commitment to tackling global warming. REWE and PENNY have pledged to bring about a 15% absolute reduction in greenhouse gas emissions across their upstream value chains by the end of 2030, compared to 2019.
Hans-Jürgen Moog, REWE Group Divisional Director: “REWE Group has set itself ambitious climate targets for more than a decade. Reducing energy consumption and preventing damaging emissions are fundamental to our corporate strategy. We therefore now feel compelled to broaden our focus and, together with our suppliers, make a measurable and binding contribution to protecting the climate and natural resources by reducing the greenhouse gas emissions in our product supply chains. The 15% absolute reduction in greenhouse gas emissions compared to 2019 is an exceptionally ambitious target, given that the level of reduction will considerably greater if our private labels experience the increase in turnover that is forecast over the next ten years.”
In this endeavour, the group is responding to the standards set out by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), a partnership between the UN Global Compact (UNGC), the World Resources Institute (WRI) and WWF: by establishing scientifically based climate targets in line with the outcomes of the Paris Agreement, it will be possible to limit global warming to well below 2 degrees Celsius by 2050.
In 2008, REWE Group became a pioneer in the field of energy management as the first food retailer to switch over to powering all its stores, administration sites, warehouses and travel agencies in Germany with certified green energy from renewable sources, such as water, wind and solar, and to access the corresponding energy management monitoring schemes. As a result, REWE Group is set to halve its greenhouse gas emissions per square metre of retail space by 2022, compared with 2006. According to current data, 49% of this climate target has already been achieved.
