We have engaged Carrefour, a leading French retailer, since 2008 and recently intensified our engagement around biodiversity in 2022. As a retailer selling own brand and other brands’ food products, it has significant impacts and dependencies on biodiversity.
Our engagement
We started our engagement on biodiversity in 2022, outlining our expectations in a letter for the company to identify, assess, and measure its most material impacts and dependencies on biodiversity, including associated risks. We encouraged it to develop a strategy to address these factors and articulate a plan with milestones to deliver this. We also shared our biodiversity white paper with the company.¹
We followed up with the company later that year, asking it to provide more information on its sourcing of raw ingredients and approach to deforestation. We were pleased to hear it was working on assessing its supply chain and stores’ impacts on biodiversity. We pressed for the company to publish these results and develop a biodiversity roadmap.
The company was responsive to our engagement and spoke of its intent to define a biodiversity strategy.
We asked if it could commit to having a positive impact on biodiversity which it pushed back on but explained its intention to have a neutral impact on biodiversity. We also asked for increased disclosure on water quality and quantity impacts in the supply chain. The company acknowledged our request.
We reiterated our expectations in early 2023. We recognised the company’s step forward as it was working with the Science Based Targets for Nature (SBTN) programme which guides organisations in setting science-based targets for nature and climate. The company was responsive to our engagement and spoke of its intent to define a biodiversity strategy.
We also joined the Nature Action 100 (NA100) collaborative engagement as lead engagers for Carrefour
In early 2024, as part of the Farm Animal Investment Risk and Return (FAIRR) collaborative engagement on protein diversification, we were pleased to hear from the company that it intended to report against the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD).
That year, we also joined the Nature Action 100 (NA100) collaborative engagement as lead engagers for Carrefour and held our first NA100 meeting with the company in mid-2024 to challenge the biodiversity impacts it disclosed in its report. We also encouraged the company to strengthen its targets by using the science-based targets for nature methodology. The company provided reassurance that targets based on SBTN methodology will be published before the end of the year.
Changes at the company
In early 2024, the company published its 2023 universal registration document which outlines its biodiversity impacts and dependencies, and related risks and opportunities. The company assessed its entire value chain, in line with our recommendations. It provided a representation of the group’s biodiversity footprint by country and type of pressure, showing its most significant impacts are in Brazil and France due to land use change.
It also shows the pressures exerted on biodiversity by several raw materials identified as high impact by SBTN, including palm oil, beef, cocoa, soy, fishery products, aquaculture products and cotton. The report also provided a narrative on pollution-related risks and opportunities including on pollution of living organisms and food resources, air, water and soil pollution, elimination of substances with controversial health and environmental effects, and microplastics. Carrefour outlined an action plan to promote responsible consumption and sustainable agriculture.
The company assessed its entire value chain, in line with our recommendations. It provided a representation of the group's biodiversity footprint by country and type of pressure
The company also followed our suggestions on water disclosures, and reports that it seeks to limit the water footprint of its products in the procurement process. For example, it helps suppliers manage water by helping them set up efficient irrigation systems. The company identified textile supply chains as being a major water pollution risk and developed a programme to raise awareness, train and audit textile suppliers in the management and efficiency of water and chemical consuming processes.
