The impacts of pollution on our value chain are mainly associated with greenhouse gas emissions, the use of materials in own operations, such as packaging, and the food waste generated during our activities. Our actions to reduce pollution are described in "Climate change" and “ Resource use and circular economy”.
We recognise that there are other impacts, both in our own operations and in our supply chain, on water resources and biodiversity. Although these topics have been identified as non-material, information about our actions to mitigate these impacts is provided in “Water and marine resources” and “Biodiversity and ecosystems”.
Internal environmental management standards have been established to reduce the environmental impacts of our operations. Compliance with these standards is monitored by conducting internal audits of our stores, warehouses, distribution centres and operating units. In 2024, we carried out over 9,000 environmental audits, 7% more than in 2023. The average score was 92%, 1 p.p. less compared to 2023. Corrective actions are defined for all cases in which the score does not reach 100%.
Internal environmental audits |
|
2024 |
|
2023 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Total (in figures) |
|
9,016 |
|
8,364 |
Biedronka |
|
7,259 |
|
6,860 |
Hebe |
|
1 |
|
1 |
Pingo Doce |
|
374 |
|
352 |
Recheio |
|
43 |
|
41 |
Ara |
|
1,339 |
|
1,110 |
JMA |
|
21 |
|
10 |
Average performance (0-100%) |
|
92% |
|
93% |
Biedronka |
|
96% |
|
96% |
Hebe |
|
96% |
|
94% |
Pingo Doce |
|
82% |
|
78% |
Recheio |
|
74% |
|
73% |
Ara |
|
77% |
|
81% |
JMA |
|
84% |
|
80% |
We are progressively increasing the number of sites with external environmental certification, such as ISO 14001, having set the goal of ensuring that at least 70% of the total number of distribution centres and industrial/similar units have environmental certification.
Environmental certification (ISO 14001) |
|
2024 |
|
2023 |
||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Certified sites |
|
Total sites |
|
Certified sites |
|
Total sites |
|||||
Distribution centres (in figures) |
|
25 |
|
35 |
|
23 |
|
34 |
||||
Biedronka |
|
17 |
|
17 |
|
17 |
|
17 |
||||
Hebe |
|
0 |
|
1 |
|
0 |
|
1 |
||||
Pingo Doce |
|
6 |
|
8 |
|
6 |
|
8 |
||||
Recheio |
|
0 |
|
0 |
|
0 |
|
0 |
||||
Ara |
|
2 |
|
9 |
|
0 |
|
8 |
||||
JMA |
|
0 |
|
0 |
|
0 |
|
0 |
||||
Industrial units (in figures)1 |
|
5 |
|
6 |
|
5 |
|
6 |
||||
Biedronka |
|
1 |
|
1 |
|
1 |
|
1 |
||||
Hebe |
|
0 |
|
0 |
|
0 |
|
0 |
||||
Pingo Doce |
|
3 |
|
4 |
|
3 |
|
4 |
||||
Recheio |
|
0 |
|
0 |
|
0 |
|
0 |
||||
Ara |
|
0 |
|
0 |
|
0 |
|
0 |
||||
JMA |
|
1 |
|
1 |
|
1 |
|
1 |
||||
Certified sites (%) |
|
73% |
|
|
|
70% |
|
|
||||
|
||||||||||||
The environmental audits we carry out in the selection process of our perishables and Private Brand suppliers and to monitor them also help to reduce the potential impacts of pollution associated with their activities. The same is true regarding the sustainable agriculture project implemented with our fruit and vegetable suppliers, which assesses aspects such as soil fertility management, implemented fertilisation plans, and the use of phytopharmaceuticals. These initiatives are described in more detail in “Selection and monitoring of suppliers” and “Supplier awareness and training”.
We have identified opportunities to improve the efficiency of our activities with a positive impact on the reduction of other sources of pollution, such as the atmospheric emissions associated with our light vehicle fleet, the onsite use of fuel to operate equipment, and the use of emergency generators and heating. Progress related to these sources of pollution is detailed in “GRI-Global Reporting Initiative”.
Commitments
The Group’s commitments related to this topic can be found in “Sustainability commitments”.