Aldi has achieved 100 per cent renewable energy to power all its operations, reducing its CO2 emissions by 85 per cent. The company reached its goal six months ahead of schedule and claims to be the first supermarket chain to have all offices, stores and warehouses powered by renewable sources.
Aldi Australia CEO Tom Daunt said the company recognised the significant roll it had to play in reducing its impact on the environment. Aldi is the 67th largest user of electricity in Australia.
“We hope that other businesses across the country are encouraged by what we have been able to achieve and accelerate their own plans around renewable energy,” Daunt said.
The company has used on-site generation via a network of solar panels across stores and distribution centres; offsite generation through Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) with two wind farms; and the acquisition of market renewable energy certificates.
It means the supermarket will annually prevent more than 274,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions from entering the atmosphere, the equivalent of powering 59,677 Australian homes or taking 80,588 cars off the road for one year.
The company is generating energy from its wind-farm investments with ten-year PPAs with Tilt Renewables’ Dundonnell Wind Farm, based in western Victoria, and RATCH-Australia’s Collector Wind Farm in the Southern Tablelands, New South Wales.
Tilt Renewables CEO Deion Campbell said its partnership with Aldi is a long-term journey. “Projects like Dundonnell support local jobs as well as Australia’s transition to a lower-emissions future,” Campbell said.
For the managing director of RATCH-Australia Polagorn Kheosiplard, he hopes more companies will follow Aldi. He said, “Servicing Aldi’s energy needs currently makes for almost 20% of our Collector Wind Farm’s generation. I hope that many more Australian companies will tap into this abundant resource.”
The company began its solar installation program in 2015 and by the end of the year will have installed more than 104,000 panels across 274 stores and six distribution centres.
Aldi has worked with Epho, recently acquired by AGL, to complete the lion’s share of its extensive solar rollout, contributing 24.5 Megawatts of power to the supermarket’s total electricity requirements.
Epho managing director Dr Oliver Hartley said working with ALDO also meant 150 Epho employees and contractors across Australia remained in their jobs during the height of COVID-19 last year.
Hartley said, “Supporting Aldi with their renewables ambition makes the Epho team immensely proud. Last year, at the peak of the program, we delivered 100 solar systems on Aldi stores in 100 business days. This kind of speed is only possible because Aldi and Epho have built a strong partnership over the years.”
Other sustainability initiatives underway by Aldi include its goal that by 2025, it will send zero waste to landfill, which includes a goal to achieve zero food waste sent to landfill by 2023. The program will see Aldi expand segregated waste collection at stores and identify closed loop recycling opportunities. It also aims to reduce at least a quarter of all plastics and packaging from its own brand products, as well as remove certain single-use and problematic plastics from its range.
It is a founding member of the ANZPAC Plastics Pact to develop a circular economy for plastics.
