Foot down – but only for climate protection

With its comprehensive climate concept and in collaboration with the WWF, Migros is making a large-scale contribution to climate protection. Thanks to a bundle of measures, in 2009 it succeeded in further reducing its greenhouse gas emissions.

Protection of the climate is one of society’s pressing aims. Migros is contributing to its realisation, and is firmly committed to reducing the amount of atmospheric greenhouse gases. For the years 2008 to 2012, Migros has drawn up a radical climate protection concept that encompasses both products and operational processes. To aid its implementation, the retailer three years ago joined the WWF Climate Group.

Massive reduction

By the end of 2012, Migros wants to reduce its own internal carbon dioxide emissions by 27% compared to 2000 – for example, by optimising the energy efficiency of buildings and plants, reducing climate-damaging emissions from cooling systems, and limiting air transportation. Its industrial enterprises, stores and logistics operations are all on target, thanks to countless measures. By the end of 2009, a reduction of 23% had already been achieved.

Everyone can join in

By constantly increasing the number of its environmentally-friendly products and services, Migros is also making it easier for customers to contribute to climate protection. These products carry special labels such as climatop (since 2008) and Topten (since 2009). The switch to energy-efficient devices is especially strong in electrical appliances. Last year their number increased by 30.

Migros is also encouraging its staff to do something for the climate. On 8 December 2009, World Climate Day, for example, FMC employees took part in a climate protection campaign during work hours. They informed their colleagues about how much electricity is used in standby-mode, and installed connectors in schools to eliminate unwanted electricity consumption. In addition, last year the FMC relaunched the so-called CO2 monitor and simplified its use. On this online platform, employees can enter their own emissions and achieve personal reduction targets.

Climate figures

Key climate figures.

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Migros has significantly reduced its CO2 combustible emissions (inc. district heating) in the last few years. Greenhouse gases from refrigerant emissions have been systematically recorded in detail since 2008.

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Migros has significantly reduced its specific greenhouse gas emissions in the last few years. Today, eight kilos of CO2 are released into the air per 1,000 francs in sales.

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The industrial companies are responsible for more than half of GHG emissions (in particular due to fuel consumption). Around a third is created by the points of sale, where refrigerant emissions dominate – despite hermetic sealing – due to the decline in fuel consumption over the years.

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Industrial companies and stores were able to reduce their CO2 intensity (see footnote) considerably compared with the base year 2000. Both segments have already far exceeded the reduction target of 16 per cent by the end of 2010.

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The operating centres reached their CO2 targets, which they agreed with the Energy Agency for the Economy in the area of combustibles and fuels. The CO2 target reduction by 2010 is 14 per cent for fuels and 27 per cent for combustibles.

¹ Fuels include consumption by the lorry fleets of the ten regional Migros cooperatives and Scana-Lebensmittel AG, but not outsourced transport.

² Income from Migros Cooperative Retailing (Migros cooperatives, FMC, industrial and logistics companies).

³ The consumption of the ten regional operations centres, the three distribution centres and the FMC is included under logistics companies.

⁴ CO2 intensity is a specific parameter defined by the Energy Agency for the Economy (EnAW) and is calculated as the ratio of the actual trend to a hypothetical trend without measures for CO2 reduction.

All climate data relate to Cooperative Retailing (inc. logistics companies and FMC) as well as Industry and Wholesaling at Migros.

Measures for climate protection

Procedural plans for climate protection targets 2012	2009 measures
25% reduction in operational carbon dioxide emissions by the end of 2010	Thanks to comprehensive climate protection measures, Migros was able to reduce its CO2 emissions by around 22 percent compared with 2000. By using waste heat from commercial refrigeration, more and more stores no longer need heating systems powered by fossil fuels. 6 new Minergie stores have been opened, giving Migros a total of 17 Minergie stores. Migros relies on electricity from renewable sources of energy. In 2009, the company commissioned its seventh photovoltaic plant, and it is increasingly allowing energy supply companies to use the large roofs of its properties. Migros also encourages staff to save energy and has organised energy-saving weeks at its Bina production plant.
Reduction of climate-damaging refrigerant emissions from chiller facilities	The number of plants using natural refrigeration systems is growing; this continues to reduce the climate-damaging refrigerant emissions from chiller facilities. All stores already use this considerably more climate-friendly CO2 as a refrigerant to cool their products in frozen food islands and cooling units. The unavoidable levels of refrigerant loss from chiller facilities are being systematically recorded for the first time.
Keeping air transportation to a minimum (business flights)	Video- and teleconferences are being increasingly used to reduce the number of business flights. Unavoidable business flights are offset to finance a climate protection project in India.
Reduction in CO2 emissions in the transportation of goods	Compared with the previous year, Migros transported 0.3 percent more goods by rail. The Migros distribution centre in Neuendorf now delivers non- and near-food items to all cooperatives by rail. 80 percent of drivers completed an eco driving course in 2009.
Reduction in energy consumption in product use	90 percent of refrigerators and freezers on offer meet the requirements of efficiency classes A+ and AA+ 52 percent of bulbs in the range are energy-saving bulbs and halogen energy saver bulbs. The Topten label has been introduced for consumer electronic products; by the end of the year 30 energy-efficient devices featured this label.
Reducing packaging material	Packaging material is being reduced for various products. For example, the proportion of recycled material used in various PET drinks bottles is being increased and the weight of packaging reduced, which will mean that 1925 fewer tons of new PET will be used. The cardboard sleeves around organic yoghurt pots are now made from recycled cardboard, saving around 65 tonnes of cardboard made from fresh fibres. A group-wide packaging mission statement has been approved and one of its goals is to reduce the amount of packaging used or to replace it with a more environmental alternative.
Declaration of the environmental impact of selected products	104 products, including kitchen paper, raw sugar, batteries, detergents and cat litter feature the "CO2 approved by climatop" label.

Foot down – but only for climate protection

Massive reduction

Everyone can join in

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