Aldi Ireland pledges to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by at least 50%

Aldi Ireland today signed the Business in the Community Ireland (BITCI) Low Carbon Pledge, committing to reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by at least 50% by the year 2030.

Supporting BITCI’s Low Carbon Pledge is the latest in a series of commitments and initiatives pursued by Aldi to improve sustainable business practices across its business. Earlier this year, Aldi became a verified member of Bord Bia’s Origin Green programme and committed to operating carbon neutrally from 1st January 2019.

Commenting, Aldi’s Group Buying Director John Curtin said, “Sustainability is an increasingly important aspect of doing business, particularly in the production and selling of food and drink. It’s essential that Irish industry reduces carbon emissions and Aldi is committed to playing a leading role. We only purchase 100% renewable energy, and together with our UK business have already achieved a 53% carbon reduction between 2012 and 2017. By supporting BITCI’s Low Carbon Pledge we are promising our customers we will achieve further improvements. We will be publicly reporting our carbon emission levels and reviewing the progress made on reducing them.”

The BITCI Low Carbon Pledge is the first dedicated pledge created by Irish business leaders to set meaningful industry standards on sustainability and significantly reduce carbon usage. It is based on industry greenhouse gas ambitions and builds on Ireland’s EU 2030 carbon emissions target, which is to reduce emissions 30% relative to 2005 carbon emissions.

The Pledge is the brainchild of BITCI’s Leaders’ Group on Sustainability, which is a coalition of leading organisations working to improve sustainability in Irish business by sharing best practice and creating new ways of working.

Tomás Sercovich of BITCI welcomed Aldi’s signing of the pledge saying, “We are thrilled to add Aldi to the now 43 businesses that have signed our Low Carbon Pledge. We believe that Irish businesses will have the greatest impact on sustainability by working in collaboration, pooling resources and sharing data. The Low Carbon Pledge gives us a new tool in tackling the pressing issue of carbon emissions, and to have a major retailer like Aldi sign up will greatly support industry-wide efforts to reach our reduction goals.”