Environmentalists take aim at Ahold Delhaize

Environmental organisation Friends of the Earth demands that Ahold Delhaize raises its climate ambitions, and says the retailer must take responsibility for the greenhouse gas emissions of its suppliers and customers. A lawsuit may follow.

Huge job

At the general shareholders meeting of Ahold Delhaize, this Wednesday, the Dutch branch of Friends of the Earth (Milieudefensie) will call on the company to make more efforts for the climate, Dutch newspaper FD reports. The retailer wants to halve its carbon emissions from stores, offices and transport by 2030, but ‘only’ aspires a 15 % reduction in the supply chain. The climate organisation thinks is too little, and wants the retailer to also assume responsibility for the emissions of its suppliers and customers – which account for 95 % of total emissions.

This is not obvious: Ahold Delhaize would then have to map the emissions of all products and suppliers and impose additional requirements. According to experts, this is a huge task, especially in the current context of raw material scarcity and cost inflation. “We tightened the targets for emissions from our own operations last year. At the end of this year, we will come up with a further plan for our indirect emissions,” the company responds.

Ahold Delhaize is on a “hit list” of 29 companies that are doing too little to meet the Paris climate targets according to Milieudefensie. These companies have until 15 April to submit modified climate plans, after which legal action may follow. Last year, Friends of the Earth achieved success in a court case against Shell: the judge ruled that the oil company must reduce its emissions by 45 % by 2045 – including the emissions of customers at the pump. According to Shell, however, this requirement is unachievable and unreasonable: the company appealed.