Netherlands-based international food retailer Ahold Delhaize announced that it will implement Product Carbon Footprint (PCF) capabilities, aimed at enabling the company to track, measure, and address emissions of the products that it sells.
According to Ahold Delhaize, the announcement comes as approximately 95% of the firm’s reported greenhouse gas footprint sits in its value chain (Scope 3), with 80% linked to the emissions of the products it sells. The company has committed to reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions across the value chain by 2050, with interim and long-term goals including targets to reduce absolute scope 3 FLAG GHG emissions 30.3% by 2030, on a 2020 basis, and by 72% by 2050.
The company said:
“With hundreds of thousands of products sourced from thousands of suppliers and farmers around the world, our value chain is large, diverse and complex. Understanding these impacts more precisely is essential to managing risk, strengthening resilience, and making informed business decisions.”
Ahold Delhaize said that, until now, it had largely relied on industry-average data to estimate product emissions and that the shift to PCF would provide a clearer, more detailed representation of where emissions occur across its portfolio.
To support the transition, Ahold Delhaize said that it is partnering with sustainability intelligence company HowGood, and that it will also work directly with suppliers through the HowGood platform and one-on-one engagement to gather better data and reflect the actions they are taking to reduce their footprint.
The company added that the transition to PCF will help to strengthen long-term supply resilience and food security, better recognize and support suppliers investing in lower-impact production, inform assortment, sourcing and innovation decisions, identify supply chain vulnerabilities to climate and cost pressures, and unlock new opportunities to reduce emissions.
The company said:
“The transition to PCF is not an end in itself. It is a step toward building a more resilient business. Better product-level insights will help us decarbonize our value chain and, more importantly, strengthen supply security, support suppliers through transition, and enable better commercial decisions over time.”
