Auchan Romania demonstrates that sustainability is not just a concept, but a central pillar of its business strategy. Through its 2030 Climate Plan, the company is integrating clear CO2 reduction and energy efficiency targets into all its operations, already achieving a 20.53% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2023. Shortly after Auchan Romania published the company’s fourth Sustainability Report, we spoke to Corina Dospinoiu-Imre, Sustainability Director of Auchan Retail Romania, about Auchan’s commitment to transparency and environmental protection.
How does Auchan Romania’s sustainability strategy, in particular in reducing CO2 emissions and increasing energy efficiency, align with overall business objectives?
Our sustainability strategy is deeply embedded in all business decisions and operations. We strongly believe that only by embedding sustainability into our business model can we generate added value for our customers and minimise our environmental impact.
With this in mind, we have outlined the Climate 2030 Plan, a comprehensive action plan that integrates into each segment of our business strategy clear objectives designed to contribute to a sustainable future, preserving the planet’s resources. The Climate Plan summarises our ambitions in service of the grand climate challenges and is the cornerstone of the company blueprint, focusing on all three main areas: refrigeration equipment, energy, transport and products.
Can you give us details of the technologies and practices implemented through the energy sobriety plan that have contributed to reducing CO2 emissions in 2023?
The measures put in place were designed to maintain the high quality standard of our services and products, while at the same time continuing to support customers’ purchasing power, Auchan’s most important stake. Thus, in 2023, Auchan Romania’s greenhouse gas emissions for Application Areas 1, 2, and 3 (transport only) decreased by 20.53% compared to the previous year, equivalent to 66,217 tonnes of CO2.
In a first stage, as part of the energy sobriety plan, we aimed to rationalise working hours to prepare stores for opening, but also to implement a more efficient stock management system.
The most visible measure has been to reduce lighting levels in shops, underground and above-ground car parks, switching them off or minimising them at night so that business is not affected. After the end of working hours, the logos, totems and air conditioning in shops and administrative areas were also fully switched off and sensor systems were installed in some areas.
We have also invested in replacing our refrigeration units with CO2 technology, as well as in HVAC systems to ensure low energy consumption. In addition, in 2024, we finalised the installation of photovoltaic panels on most of the Auchan hypermarkets eligible for this approach, through a large-scale partnership with Helexia. As a result, 16 of our stores are equipped with more than 18,000 panels, enabling us to save around 20% of a store’s consumption. All the savings already realised through energy efficiency and the energy sobriety plan we have underway are making an important contribution to keeping prices low day by day.
How has Auchan been involved in working with suppliers, customers or other partners to support the reduction of CO2 emissions along the value chain?
We started more than five years ago an accelerated process of decarbonisation, both of our store operations, by reducing energy and refrigerant gas consumption, and of our products, together with our partners and customers. We are working to reduce emissions with a comprehensive strategy developed in the 2030 Climate Plan and based on SBTI-certified targets.
At the same time, as part of Climate Plan 2030, we have developed the Partners for Decarbonisation programme where we work with our suppliers to raise awareness of climate urgency, measure emissions and decarbonise operations and products.
We are committed to strengthening and building strong commercial and decarbonisation partnerships with like-minded partners on climate change and sustainability. We were pleased to find a lot of openness among them – some of them have already successfully implemented decarbonisation projects. Many other partners committed to reducing emissions have expressed their willingness to contribute their experience and knowledge to this learning platform, which shows that we have the capacity to develop a strong ecosystem together.
This is the company’s fourth Sustainability Report, published on a voluntary basis. What prompted this and what are the main results?
Openness is one of our three core values. That is why we have set ourselves the goal of producing an annual Sustainability Report in order to be transparent and open with our customers, partners and employees, as well as to present the results of our activity in a given reporting period. Also on a voluntary basis, and also in order to be open with the public and to provide trust and confidence, we decided that each published report would go through an independent, third party assessment. Each audit mission was aimed at certifying the accuracy of the data subject to verification and of the reporting process. I believe openness is the word that sets us apart. It was not just a legislative obligation.
The Sustainability Report 2023 presents the collective actions carried out by the more than 7,000 employees of Auchan Romania during this year, following 3 main pillars: environmental, social and governance. Thus, the main achievements highlighted in the report mark the impact that Auchan has on the Romanian economy, the financial results, as well as the impact on the environment and the support to the communities we are part of.
As part of our commitment to support the local economy and provide customers with fresh, high-quality produce, while reinforcing our commitment to sustainable agriculture, in 2023 we added over 30 new products to the Auchan Filiere portfolio, a programme specifically designed to offer customers full transparency of the production process from seed to shelf. Also in terms of protecting the environment, we are pleased with the continued development of the “Zero Waste” project during the reporting period, saving more than 5 million products from waste.
Efforts to protect the environment were also supported through our pre-SGR campaign.
Last but not least, we continued to strengthen our commitment to local communities by supporting numerous social projects and solidarity campaigns. The social impact of these initiatives has been significant, reflected in the support of 87 social projects and total donations totalling more than 3 million lei (equivalent to 600,000 euros).
With the transition to the CSRD standards for sustainability reporting in 2024, how do you plan to increase transparency and accountability in reporting on emission reductions and energy efficiency?
I believe that the transition to the ESRS will help us to increase transparency and accountability in the reporting of emission reductions and energy efficiency because we will adopt a systematic and well-structured approach. We have already developed and implemented a carbon emissions and energy efficiency management system in which we have set emission reduction targets that we continuously measure and monitor.
As I was saying, we have been moving towards decarbonising the company and operations since five years ago. Through our 2030 Climate Plan, we have set clear and measurable short and long-term CO2 reduction targets aligned with international agreements, which have also been certified by SBTI. Annually, the company’s Sustainability Reports present the results of monitoring, both consumption and targets, as well as the measures we have implemented to reduce GHG (greenhouse gas) emissions and their results. All these practices constitute an additional factor of transparency and trust for customers and partners that we intend to maintain and improve in the future.