Lidl Ireland has made a commitment to becoming a carbon neutral business by 2025 with the launch of a supplier engagement programme and by enabling customers to lower their carbon impact through EV charging points. The retailer also plans to further progress on its targets by committing to a 46 per cent reduction on its operational emissions by 2030.
The announcement comes as part of the German discounter’s progress report on their sustainability strategy ‘A Better Tomorrow’. Lidl is committed to driving those targets through internal activities as well as initiatives that support their network of suppliers and customers. The initiatives will cement Lidl’s position as Ireland’s most sustainable retailer.
To achieve its targets, Lidl engaged The Carbon Trust in recent years to work with them on measuring the retailer’s carbon footprint and to achieve reduction pathways aligned to the Science Based Target initiative guidelines. A localised strategy has been created which aligns with the Paris Agreement’s global 1.5-degree decarbonisation plan.
Lidl’s own-brand packaging is set to be reduced by a fifth by the end of 2022, by eliminating all single use plastic items such as drinking straws, disposable cups, glasses and plates which have been replaced with non-plastic alternatives. In addition, all plastic microbeads have been removed from Lidl’s own-brand cosmetics and household cleaning products.
PLASTIC
By the end of this year, Lidl will eliminate all non-recyclable black plastic from their own-brand products. They have already removed black plastic from fruit ‘n’ veg, fresh fish, cured meat and most fresh meat and poultry, converting almost 500 tonnes of plastic into recyclable packaging. By 2025, all of Lidl’s own-brand packaging will be widely recyclable, reusable, or renewable and half of materials used in own-brand packs will come from recycled materials.
Having already made the switch to purchasing 100 per cent green energy in 2018, Lidl is supporting a switch to energy generation by committing to retrofitting solar panelling across at least 15 stores per year. A €75 million expansion of its Mullingar distribution centre will see the installation of the retailer’s largest solar array across all of the Lidl Ireland properties.
Lidl now has 74 dedicated customer charging points across its store network, the most of any retailer in Ireland, and is committed to increasing this number over the coming years. The company continues to support Ladies Gaelic Football, with its Level the Playing Field campaign seeing shoppers help local LGFA clubs win sets of jerseys to €20,000 in funding.
Pictured are JP Scally, CEO, Lidl Ireland and Owen Keogh, the company’s head of CSR
For more on Lidl’s sustainability strategy, click on https://www.abettertomorrow-lidl.ie/
