Forests are diverse and complex ecosystems that provide a habitat for plants, animal and people. This is particularly true for tropical forests which harbour the majority of our planet’s biodiversity and fresh water supply. These ecosystems are under threat as deforestation continues at an alarming rate, contributing to a significant percentage of global CO2 emissions. Especially, commercial agriculture is one of the primary drivers of global deforestation.
Therefore, at ALDI Nord our goal is to eliminate deforestation from our high-priority global supply chains by December 31st, 2030. So-called cut-off dates are defined for the individual raw materials depending on the market situation and available certification programs. The latest cut-off date accepted by us is 2020 for all relevant raw materials.
Recently, ALDI Nord has set new targets and roadmaps for the commodities we have identified at risk of causing deforestation in our supply chains. In doing so, an assessment has been undertaken to identify the key risks, opportunities, and pathways for delivering a credible plan to mitigate the potential for deforestation to occur to a negligible level.
To outline the results of the assessment, an International Position Statement on Deforestation comprising the results has been published. The statement also sets out how we intend to achieve our goal to eliminate deforestation from our high priority supply chains by 2030.
Our approach was developed in collaboration with experts and environmental organizations and is based on the guidelines of the Accountability Framework Initiative (AFi). The Accountability Framework Initiative is a global coalition of non-governmental organizations working to protect forests, other ecosystems and human rights.
Our major fields of action in order to tackle deforestation in our high priority supply chains are:
Where available, raw materials certified by independent third parties play a key role for retailers to ensure that sustainability requirements are implemented on the ground. In this context, a good option are physical supply chains. In case of limited availability, we acknowledge the impact of credits to minimize deforestation as a first step. In addition, we strive to maximize transparency where possible to increase the impact of our measures.
Especially for complex supply chains, collaboration between stakeholders is essential for market transition. We collaborate with:
We engage in the origin of raw materials of our products to create direct impact. Complementing certification and collaboration, we consider supporting projects or [landscape approaches], which have the most impact and minimize deforestation.
To tackle systemic challenges, it needs cross-sector collaborations including all relevant political, economic and social stakeholders.
Our longstanding partnerships and cooperation with various stakeholders has proven to be the best way to achieve zero-deforestation within the complex supply chains of our commodities.
Therefore, ALDI Nord supports the introduction of a smart and robust European legislative framework to reduce the EU contribution to global legal and illegal deforestation and forest degradation.
Legislative action on deforestation by the European Union is essential to create a level playing field and to drive sector-wide change. It can contribute significantly to the prevention of deforestation and reduction in GHG emission, and to prevent biodiversity loss.
Palm Oil
To ensure that the palm oil used in our own-brand products is deforestation free, it has to be certified according to the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) Chain of custody standard.
The share of certified palm (kernel) oil used by the ALDI Nord Group for the production of food and non-food products was 98.6% at the end of 2019. This means that the palm oil used in ALDI products is only sourced from producers who comply with certain guidelines and specifications. This is intended to make the cultivation of oil palms more sustainable and to prevent deforestation, slash-and-burn and human rights violations in palm oil cultivation.
In addition to purchasing certified palm oil, ALDI Nord supported an agricultural project in Côte d'Ivoire from 2017 to 2021 in cooperation with the non-governmental organization "Solidaridad International". The project aimed to promote good agricultural practices among smallholder farmers. A total of 17,500 tree seedlings have been planted and 250 hectares of forest restored since the project began.
Soy
Soy cultivation for animal feed production is one of the biggest drivers of deforestation. We are convinced that all players in the value chain must assume their share of responsibility here.
Through our requirements to use only sustainable soy in feed for the production of poultry, beef, pork and shell eggs from summer 2021, we want to live up to our responsibility for sustainable, deforestation-free supply chains (ALDI Nord Germany).
By 2025, we also aim to use deforestation-free soy in all other relevant supply chains (aquaculture, dairy products). In addition, we aim for at least half of the total soy feed used to come from physically certified supply chains by the end of 2025.
To verify our requirements and measure our impact, we have been determining our soy footprint together with our suppliers and an external service provider since 2021. In the future, we will publish this as part of our RTRS membership and thus report on our progress.
Timber & paper-based products
Our goal is to switch our wood and wood-based products and the wood or wood-based packaging used for them to recycled or sustainably certified materials. Where possible, we use recycled materials. We are also striving to switch wood-containing private label items in our standard and promotional ranges, as well as office supplies for our own use, to certified raw materials - for example, according to the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC®).
95.2 % of the wood and wood-based private label products at ALDI North in Germany were sustainably certified in 2020. In 2017, the proportion of certified products was 88.2 percent. In addition, we are striving across Europe to convert all wood and wood-based products by the end of 2020.
In 2020, we received the Sustainability Heroes Award for our outstanding social commitment in Namibia. Together with ALDI SÜD and FSC® we have been supporting a project for the sustainable production of charcoal since 2019, while at the same time creating jobs in the rural region.
Beef
The cattle industry in Brazil is known as one of the main drivers of deforestation as to expand pastureland, illegal clearing of forests often occurs. In addition, the Brazilian beef supply chains are highly complex and hard to monitor. Thus, ALDI Nord renounces Brazilian beef in its supply chains. The renunciation of Brazilian beef will apply to all new supplier contracts for fresh and frozen meat from summer 2022. In a next step, we will review the origin of processed meat. Already today, around 85 % of the fresh meat products sold at ALDI are of German or even regional origin. ALDI wants to continuously increase this share, also due to the growing demand.
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