Aldi is officially Australia’s first grocery retailer to have its operations powered by renewable energy alone with its 100% renewable electricity commitment independently verified by the Clean Energy Regulator (CER) in its latest Corporate Emissions Reduction Transparency (CERT) report.
The CERT 2023 report, the second to be published by the regulator, shows the progress toward net zero emissions, 100% renewable electricity use and other climate-related commitments of 25 Australian companies that volunteered to participate.
The report provides verification that Aldi has achieved its target to transition its Australian operations to 100% renewable electricity, making it the first Australian supermarket to have all its offices, stores and warehouses powered by renewable energy alone.
Aldi Australia Sustainability Director Daniel Baker said the report validates the retailer’s commitment to use renewable energy across its operations as part of its broader sustainability targets.
“Sustainability is placed firmly at the core of Aldi’s values and operations,” he said. “We are proud the report has recognised these efforts as Aldi continues to lead the way as one of only a handful of companies featured in the report to have fully transitioned its operations to 100% renewable electricity sources.”
At the centre of Aldi’s shift to 100% renewable electricity are the power purchase agreements it holds with three Australian wind farms, the acquisition and voluntary surrender of market renewable energy certificates, and on-site solar generation.
The release of the report coincides with Aldi revealing it plans to expand its solar panel network, deploying another 34 MWp of PV across 25 freestanding stores throughout Australia before the end of 2024.
The installation will add to the more than 105,000 solar panels already fitted across 270 Aldi stores and six of the company’s distribution centres in Australia. In 2022, its solar panels generated more than 40,813 MWh of renewable electricity.
Baker said the company’s commitment to renewable electricity, and the continuing rollout of rooftop solar, not only supports its sustainability targets but also “makes great business sense.”
“Not only are we reducing our impact on the planet, we’re also bringing down our operational costs,” he said.
While Aldi has already achieved its 100% renewables goal, the CER report shows that supermarket rivals Woolworths and Coles, which have both pledged to be fully powered by renewables by 2025, are making steady progress towards achieving their goals.
The report reveals that renewables currently provide just 16.6% of Woolworths’ total electricity usage while Coles is marginally better at 19.6%.
The supermarket giants were among 25 large companies from the energy, manufacturing, mining, retail, financial, transport, construction and research sectors that participated in the CERT 2023 report. Together, the companies represent 21% of the scope 1 emissions reported to the CER in 2021-22.
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