Albert Heijn, the largest supermarket chain in the Netherlands, has announced it will be accelerating the sustainability of its transport networks in order to reduce CO2 emissions.
Since the last week of 2022, both home delivery of groceries and supply to stores in the centre of The Hague are provided with 100% electric vehicles.
Electric Vehicles And Biofuel
Compared to a diesel truck in urban use, Albert Heijn claims an electric truck saves 75,000 kg of CO2 per year per truck. The retailer plans for similar rollouts in Rotterdam, Utrecht and Amsterdam over the course of this year.
Aside from electric-powered vehicles, by 2024, the Ahold-Delhaize owned retailer wants to switch completely to biofuels and clean diesel vehicles, which run on HVO diesel.
Solar Panels
Furthermore, the Dutch retailer says that since the end of December, more than 5,000 solar panels have been installed on the roof of its Home Shop Center in Bleiswijk, which annually provide the operation with 2,200,000 kWh of sustainably generated energy.
In 2023, Albert Heijn plans to equip at least five more Home Shop Centers with solar panels, with a total annual generation of approximately 7,000,000 kWh of sustainably generated energy.
'Climate Neutral'
"Our own business operations – shops, distribution centres and offices – are already completely climate neutral," says Constantijn Ninck Blok, director of logistics and supply chain at Albert Heijn.
"We are also becoming increasingly sustainable in the supply chain and in our logistics – for example, by supplying increasingly quiet, cleaner stores and delivering groceries."
© 2023 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Robert McHugh. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.
