Lidl and wildlife conservation organisation WWF have agreed to cooperate actively and strategically in 31 countries during the next five years. In doing so, they will focus on promoting sustainable practices within the discounter’s value chain.
Responsible sourcing and nature conservation projects
In recent years, Lidl and WWF have already worked together in Switzerland and Austria, but the new cooperation expands the scope of this work globally to accelerate the shift towards greater sustainability. With WWF’s help, Lidl wants to offer more sustainable choices and thus actively shape its sustainable transformation.
The partnership with WWF covers many different core areas, from reducing food waste to promoting biodiversity. Responsible sourcing of raw materials such as palm oil, soy, cocoa, tea, coffee, wood, fish and seafood is also part of the cooperation. In addition to Lidl’s efforts in its own value chain, the company will support several WWF conservation projects to help protect the environment in the regions where it purchases.
“The food and agriculture sectors continue to be among the main drivers of climate change and nature loss. These sectors are responsible for a third of greenhouse gas emissions, 80 % of deforestation and 70 % of land-based biodiversity loss. As one of the largest grocery retailers in Europe, Lidl has enormous international leverage to drive sustainable change in the food, agriculture and retail sectors. With broad geographical and thematic scope, the partnership between WWF and Lidl has the potential to transform these sectors beyond Lidl’s supply chains towards a greater positive impact”, a WWF statement explains.
“If we want to stop and reverse the biggest crisis facing humanity today, we urgently need to take decisive action and change our food and energy systems”, WWF International Director General Kirsten Schuijt adds.
