Combating

climate change

Under our sustainability strategy, we are committed to a circular economy agenda and initiatives toward achieving a low-carbon economy.

ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT POLICY

CONTROLLING AND MITIGATING EMISSIONS

We have inventoried our greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions across our banners since 2010 in accordance with the framework outlined by the Brazilian GHG Protocol Program. The information in our third party-audited emissions inventory enables us to identify opportunities for emissions mitigation and accountability.


We also report to the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), one of the leading financial-sector initiatives to mitigate climate change, and we are constituents of the Brazilian stock exchange B3’s Carbon Efficient Index (ICO2).


We have set a target to achieve a 30% reduction in our emissions by 2025 (from a 2015 baseline) and 38% by 2030—across scope 1 (direct emissions) and 2 (emissions from purchased electricity).


Performance against our emissions reduction target is also factored in a Sustainability and Diversity Index created in 2016, which in turn is factored in the amount of variable compensation paid for eligible positions.

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We have continued to invest in sourcing renewable electricity by migrating stores to the free market, where electricity can be discretionarily purchased from small hydro, wind, biomass, solar or other renewable sources. By 2024, we have committed to migrating 100% of our medium-voltage power consumption to the free market.


Investing in more sustainable techniques for building new stores and renovating existing stores is integral to our approach to improving energy efficiency. Stores are built with lighting plans designed to reduce cost and waste by minimizing the number light spots and optimizing backroom cold storage areas.


In existing stores we have swapped bulbs for more efficient LED models, and installed doors on refrigerated displays. This helps to maintain the temperature and reduce energy consumption, as well as allowing merchandise to be flexibly stored on the sales floor, reducing the thermal load for cold storage areas.


We have also continued to implement on-site power generation using store-top solar power plants, most recently at one of our Pão de Açúcar stores in Sorocaba (SP) and a Minuto Pão de Açúcar store in Campinas (SP).

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We have implemented initiatives to control and prevent refrigerant-related greenhouse gas emissions. We monitor all stores, categorize them and then develop category-specific initiatives. Some of these initiatives include:


- Agreements with refrigeration and air conditioning repair contractors establishing penalties for consumption of certain refrigerants.


- A dedicated team for preventive and corrective maintenance in-store.


- Daily backroom inspections at all stores to promptly identify and respond to leaks.


- Upgrades of our machinery rooms, counters and infrastructure to optimize and/or replace refrigerants.

REDUCING WASTE

A comprehensive waste management program is one of the ways we are working to combat climate change. We manage our processes to reduce the volume of waste generated in operations and to ensure it is properly segregated, handled, stored and disposed of. This helps avoid contamination, minimizes landfilling and improves recycling. At GPA we segment this process into three areas of action: reducing waste generation in our operations, implementing circular economy models and combating food waste.

MINIMIZING WASTE GENERATION
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To reduce impacts from waste in our operations, we have implemented a range of initiatives and provided employee training to reduce waste generation and improve compliant waste segregation and disposal procedures.


These efforts are part of our REUSE Program, which aims to improve the segregation, storage, transportation, and disposal of waste from our store operations. The program consists of five steps: developing action plans, upgrading infrastructure, adapting materials, in-store team training, and monitoring and tracking indicators.

REVERSE LOGISTICS PROGRAMS
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RECYCLABLE MATERIALS – In 2001 Pão de Açúcar partnered with Unilever to set up in-store drop-off points for recyclable materials such as paper, plastic, metal, glass, and used cooking oil. In 2021 we expanded this partnership into a new initiative, the Molécoola loyalty program, in a collaboration with OMO, Unilever’s flagship brand in Brazil.

Check out the list of participating stores here >

BATTERIES – We have provided used battery drop-offs in all our stores, in a collaboration with Green Eletron.

CORK STOPPERS – In 2019, Pão de Açúcar began a partnership with Corticeira Paulista to recycle cork stoppers. The stoppers are treated, shredded, and turned into raw materials. Drop-offs are available at Pão de Açúcar Adega stores.

MINIMIZING FOOD WASTE
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We are constantly working to reduce waste in our operations through projects to minimize the amount of products that go to waste.


Here are some of our related projects:


Loss Prevention Program: This program establishes guidelines for tracking and controlling damaged, spoiled and expired inventory in our stores. It is structured around three pillars: support (efforts to prevent and minimize spoilage and damage in our stores/distribution centers); damage intelligence (monitoring and planning to inform decision making); and methods and processes (implementing continuous improvement tools).


Donating fruits and vegetables: Our "Partnership Against Waste" program, established in 1995, donates to food banks and charities any fruits and vegetables that are suitable for consumption but not attractive enough for sale to customers.

We have also partnered with startup Connecting Food to track a set of metrics to closely monitor what and how much we donate and to which charities. To learn more, visit the GPA Institute website.


Near-Expired Products: As part of our efforts to reduce food waste in our operations, we perform weekly expiration date audits to identify products that are nearing their expiration date. In some stores, these products are displayed in designated gondolas at discounted prices ranging from 10% to 50% off the regular sale price. This not only helps us to reduce waste, but also provides our customers with cost savings.

REDUCING AND REPLACING PACKAGING

We are actively working to reduce and replace the packaging used in our stores and for our private label products. This includes introducing new packaging designs for our customers. Our initiatives in this area focus on three main levers: reducing plastic packaging, replacing packaging, and private label initiatives.

NEW AGAIN PROGRAM:
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This Program is redesigning our private label packaging to make it 100% recyclable, reusable, or compostable by 2030. It is also finding ways to reuse post-consumer materials and eliminate single-use plastic.

Redução do uso de embalagens plásticas nas lojas
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Organic produce - Selling organic produce without packaging helps lower prices by up to 30% compared with prepackaged organic produce and allows customers to make more sustainable choices by only taking the amount they really need. This also allows them to choose the sizes and shapes that best suit their needs.


Mushrooms and miniature vegetables – Customers can choose the amount they want and package the product in paper packaging, which helps to reduce food waste and minimize our environmental footprint


Reuse #ToBeHappy – This program encourages Pão de Açúcar customers to purchase bulk products using Pão’s reusable packaging or containers that they bring from home.

REPLACING PACKAGING
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Duofresh packaging for portioned cold cuts – Our stores now offer packaging made of kraft paper and polyethylene in replacement of polystyrene trays. Separating the paper layer from the plastic and sending it for recycling significantly reduces our environmental footprint, and the paper used is FSC-certified, meaning it comes from areas with responsible forestry management.


Biodegradable fruit and vegetable packaging – We were the first retailer to announce that we would be replacing 100% of our fruit and vegetable trays with a biodegradable solution. The packaging, now used on some of our Taeq and Qualitá private label products, is made of cellulose and starch and is 100% free of petrochemicals and toxic additives. It completely degrades within six months.

LOGISTICS EFFICENCY

As a food retailer, the distribution of products to millions of families is our core business. Our logistics operations continuously invest in innovation and technology to optimize product delivery services and store restocking.


We have carried out an admissions assessment across our entire logistics fleet to inform initiatives to help reduce the environmental impacts of these operations. We recognize that phasing out fossil fuels is an important part of transitioning to a low-carbon economy. We have implemented a system to optimize routing and load building. We are also expanding projects to reduce the need for vehicle use (by using multimodal options, multiple collections, and transit points) and to use more eco-efficient vehicles (like electric vans, electric tricycles, and bicycles).

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