Banana harvest

Sustainability

Commitments and projects

Doing our bit: from the Pro Planet Apple Project to packaging.

Improving climate protection

Glazed chiller cabinets, climate-friendly coolants, LED lighting – these are just a few of the many things we have implemented in order to save energy at our stores and warehouses. For us, climate protection also means cutting greenhouse gas emissions in logistics and along the supply chain. It is our aim to make a measurable contribution to the protection of resources and to keep the impact on the climate and the environment as low as possible. This is why we set our first climate target back in 2009, and are continuously developing it. REWE and PENNY committed themselves to define short and long-term company-wide reduction targets in accordance with the scientifical net zero standard of the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi). These also include the emissions caused in the supply chain.

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For high standards of animal welfare

At the REWE Group, we want to be actively involved in promoting and developing improvements to livestock farming, from no-kill eggs to humanely reared meat. Through close cooperation with scientists, NGOs and business partners, we have already improved industry-wide animal welfare standards.

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Upholding human rights

Human rights are non-negotiable for the REWE Group. In a policy statement, we set down clear rules for upholding human rights both in our own business activities and our global supply chains. We are committed to bolstering human rights, improving working conditions, and promoting fair trade within the supply chains of all our private-label products because we can only achieve success over the long term if our business activities are in harmony with people and the environment.

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Making packaging more environmentally friendly

From protection and transport through to storage, packaging has many important functions. From an ecological perspective however, its production and disposal can be problematic, which is why we have resolved to eliminate or reduce packaging wherever possible or improve its ecological design. With our packaging initiative, we are working intensively on more sustainable and practical options, from innovative materials through to detailed work on specific packaging. Our goal is to achieve 100% environmentally friendly private-label packaging by 2030.

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Protecting biodiversity

From Panama to Austria, we have introduced a wide range of initiatives for the protection and encouragement of biodiversity along supply chains. In this, we rely on cooperations with strategic partners, such as Naturschutzbund Deutschland (the Nature and Biodiversity Conservation Union, or NABU). Together, we agree on specific areas of focus, such as marine conservation, plastic, forest conservation and paper, resource conservation, and promoting biodiversity.

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nachhaltigkeitsstrategie

Our strategy for greater sustainability

Sustainability has been an important part of our corporate identity and business strategy for over ten years.
Our strategy for greater sustainability
Cow standing on a green meadow.

Sustain­ability Report 2021

REWE Group acts in an environmentally and climate-conscious manner, promotes more sustainable product ranges, ensures fair dealings with partners and suppliers, assumes responsibility for its employees and is committed to a sustainable society. This report shows how the company has implemented its sustainability strategy in 2021 – and how it intends to meet future challenges.

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