Sustainable procurement and assortment

METRO committed itself to a company-wide mandatory guideline for sustainable fish purchasing.

In 2016, METRO Cash & Carry set itself the target to purchase 80% of the 12 most popular fish and seafood products from sustainable sources by 2020.

Positioning of METRO and active exchange with experts on the issue: METRO is actively involved in numerous external committees and partnerships, such as the Global Sustainable Seafood Initiative (GSSI), the North Atlantic Seafood Forum (NASF), the World Economic Forum (WEF) and the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) for sustainable fisheries.

Another example is the Tuna 2020 Traceability Declaration, which METRO joined as a signatory in July 2017.

METRO Cash & Carry further conducts sustainability workshops in the METRO Cash & Carry national subsidiaries. Their objective is to develop a specific implementation plan for each country.

METRO committed itself to a group-wide mandatory guideline for the sustainable purchasing of products containing palm oil.

METRO Cash & Carry set itself the target to purchase 100% of its own brand products containing palm oil from sustainable sources by the year 2020.

Sustainability workshops conducted in the METRO Cash & Carry national subsidiaries: Their objective is to develop a specific implementation plan for each country. Croatia, Poland and Italy have already switched pure palm oil to sustainability-certified palm oil.

Real has been purchasing 100% of its own brand range of food products containing palm oil from sustainable sources since the year 2015.

During the reporting period, Real set itself a new goal: 100% of the palm oil used for its own brand food products must be certified with regard to “Segregation and Identity Preservation” criteria by the year 2025.

Comprehensive annual supplier review: The objective is to ascertain the availability and use of palm oil or palm kernel oil that is certified with regard to “Segregation and Identity Preservation” criteria.

METRO committed itself to improving the environmental footprint of its own brand product packaging by adopting a group-wide mandatory guideline.

In the period until 2018, METRO Cash & Carry will take the following measures in the national organisations taking part in the project and the Global Own Brand Management:

• Investigate the packaging of 10,000 own brand products for optimisation potentials,
• Phase out polyvinyl chloride (PVC) packaging as much as possible and replace it with more sustainable packaging and
• Obtain an FSC® (Forest Stewardship Council®) certification for 100% of SIG and Tetrapak beverage cartons.

Investigation of optimisation potentials: METRO has adopted the 5R principle: remove, reduce, reuse, renew and recycle.

Assessment of the environmental footprint of product packaging: METRO Cash & Carry uses PIQET, a system for analysing the life cycle of product packaging.

Knowledge transfer and best-practice-sharing: METRO conducts regular packaging workshops. 10 METRO Cash & Carry national subsidiaries and the Global Own Brand Management have set themselves country-specific targets that will contribute to the overall target. In financial year 2015/16, METRO has successfully reduced the amount of packaging materials by 15%. 83% of Tetrapak and SIG private label beverage cartons are now FSC® certified, while 62% of PVC-based own brand packaging has been replaced by more sustainable alternative solutions.

Real will successively

• Switch 100% of its paper and carton packaging for own brand food products to FSC®- and PEFCcertified materials and
• Assess the packaging of all own brand products on potentials for improvement of their environmental footprint (e.g. use of less material, certified materials).

Numerous projects on reducing the amount of packaging are ongoing. Trials with alternative fruit and vegetable packaging are also conducted. This led to the discontinuation of plastic shopping bags in January 2017.

In 2016, METRO Cash & Carry adopted a guideline with the objective to source more than 50% of its own-brand products containing timber or paper from legal and sustainable sources by 2020.

Sustainability workshops in the METRO Cash & Carry national subsidiaries prepare the country-specific implementation plans. We have already been using 100% recycling paper in our head office in Düsseldorf, Germany, since the year 2015. Moreover, all products belonging to our range of centrally procured own brand outdoor furniture range are already FSC®-certified.

Real intends to switch its own brand products to 100% sustainable timber and paper by 2020, provided at least 50% of weight of the product consists of these resources.

All printing paper, copy paper and sanitary tissues used internally at Real will be switched to 100% sustainable timber and paper.

Real also intends to switch service packaging, such as packaging materials used at fresh food counters, to 100% sustainable timber and paper by 2020.

Involvement of Real suppliers in the objective and implementation of a supplementary supplier agreement.

METRO is intensifying its efforts for fair working conditions at all producers in high-risk countries¹ where import goods are manufactured for METRO SOURCING. Our efforts also target the producers of our own brand products or our own imports in the area of clothing, shoes, toys and household hardware.

More stringent requirements for suppliers: All factories producing for us² must prove at least acceptable audit results by 1 January 2019.

Continued inclusion of all factories² producing non-food own brand products in a valid BSCI social standard system or equivalent.

Increasing the proportion of current audits, e.g. by providing specific training to the producers. As of 1 January 2017, new listings will only be accepted with at least an acceptable audit result.