Moo-ving Ahold Delhaize to act on climate
Dear Friend,
Investors attending Ahold Delhaize’s annual shareholder meeting this week received an udderly clear message from a giant, methane-emitting inflatable cow looming over the proceedings at the Zaandtheater, outside Amsterdam. We’ve named her “Mighty Meg”, as she represents the huge problem this superheating gas presents for people and planet.
Meg’s message: Ignoring the climate and nature impact of meat and dairy is a moo-sive financial and reputational risk for one of the world’s largest supermarket companies: this single company’s meat and dairy is associated with more methane emissions than the entire countries of Denmark or Sweden.
Adding in the deforestation impact from suppliers like JBS and Cargill, means that Ahold Delhaize brands Stop & Shop, Giant, Food Lion, Hannaford, Albert Heijn, Delhaize are selling their shoppers steaks, chops, and burgers that are responsible for sending outsize pollution into the atmosphere and bulldozing of the Amazon and other endangered ecosystems.
It’s the cow in the room, and we wanted to make sure it was high on the agenda for Ahold Delhaize’s top decision-makers given their mon-moo-mentalcommercial leverage.
To its credit, Ahold Delhaize has committed to reduce its overall supply chain agricultural emissions by 30 percent and Albert Heijn, its original home brand in The Netherlands, has responded to our campaign by becoming the first-ever retailer to detail its methane emissions. The most important step to achieve that goal was committing to sell 50 percent plant-based protein by 2030 with Albert Heijn going even further with setting a 60% target. Replacing meat and dairy with plants is, along with eliminating suppliers engaged in deforestation, the largest single step any food-sellercan take to reduce its impact on the planet.
But there’s a loophole large enough for thousands of Mighty Megs to tromp through:the commitment only applies to its Dutch and EU brands. It’s much bigger hoofprint comes from its North American stores representing 45% of the company’s methaneemissions.
The consequences of that loophole are clear in the data: instead of going down, Ahold Delhaize has been selling so much meat in America that emissions are now more than 5 percent above the 2020 baseline, leaving less than four years to deliver a 35 percent reduction: a challenging goal.
Mighty Earth and its herd never aim only to be shouting on the outside, as valuable as bringing public attention to an issue is. Our Netherlands Director Jurjen de Waal has been meeting with senior Ahold Delhaize executives and board members behind the scenes to discuss the challenges and propose concrete solutions (indeed, thesediscussions helped secure the positive step Ahold Delhaize made for its Dutch brand).
Media coverage of the action during the Ahold Delhaize AGM in De Orkaan, Nhnieuws.nl, De Volkskrant, and Reformatorisch Dagblad.
At the meeting, Ahold Delhaize allowed him to present the big issues to investors, andasked Ahold Delhaize CEO Frans Muller to address the gaps and be transparent towards its shareholders over the efforts the company is taking to deliver on its goals. The good news is that Muller stated that Ahold Delhaize remains committed to its 2030 FLAG target and confirmed that emissions from meat and dairy, alongside deforestation free soy animal feed supply chains, are included in the company’s plans.He also expressed frustration with the big ag traders who sabotaged the Amazon Soy Moratorium and committed to drive change. However, he failed to explain why emissions have increased to date, what concrete actions are being implemented, or whether these plans will be disclosed to shareholders or the wider public. Without a clear, transparent and ambitious plan across all markets, including the United States, the company risks failing to deliver on its own promise.
That failure would not be without consequences. Because these targets are linked to sustainability-linked bonds, missing them would trigger higher interest payments, directly costing investors. At the same time, continued emissions growth exposes Ahold Delhaize to mounting reputational risks, as well as potential regulatory scrutiny under EU rules if commitments are not met.
Mighty Earth will continue to push Ahold Delhaize to match its climate leadership claims with credible action and full transparency across its global operations.
We look forward to following up on these discussions but will also be continuing our trans-Atlantic campaign with Meg and friends until Ahold Delhaize takes credible actions. We believe this is a moment of significant opportunity for it to do so. Until November of last year, companies like Ahold Delhaize merely had different bad options when it came to meat suppliers’ climate actions. No meat company was taking sufficient action to address its footprint.
Billboard in Quincy, Massachusetts as part of Migthy Earth’s campaign to push Ahold Delhaize’s US subsidiary, Stop & Shop, to disclose its methane emissions.
However, that’s changed since MBRF, former Marfrig, the world’s second-largest cattle company, announced that they achieved 100% origin traceability of their beef supply chain, considering direct and indirect suppliers, across all Brazilian biomes. It is agroundbreaking cattle traceability requirement that surpass those of its competitors; and a real plan to reduce methane emissions by a third by 2034. Meanwhile, competitors Minerva, JBS, and Cargill remain stuck selling meat driving bulldozing of ancient ecosystems and land-grabbing – and lack any commensurate climate or traceability plans.
On the dairy side, Danone is implementing a commitment for methane action. What that means: Ahold Delhaize and other supermarkets no longer have to choose among deforesters, land-stealers, superpolluters as their meat suppliers. They now have better options. Ahold Delhaize moving its sales to one of the more responsible suppliers will send the most powerful possible message at a moment of great opportunity that leaders on nature and climate action will be rewarded with higher purchase volumes – while rogue companies are going to have their market share slashed. Ahold Delhaize’ssignificant market position means that CEO Muller and his colleagues are uniquely positioned to drive major change with relatively easy steps.
The world has just experienced its third-hottest year on record, with a key driver being methane emissions from livestock agriculture (larger than from fossil fuels!). Cows are the new coal. Rapidly cutting this climate superheater is one of the fastest ways to put the brakes on global warming. The world cannot afford for food retailers like Ahold Delhaize to delay addressing outsized methane emissions.
We will continue to push for moo-ningful action and make clear to investors and company leadership alike: addressing methane is essential to managing long-term business risk.
Look out for Meg and friends at other Ahold Delhaize properties across Europe and North America. You herd it here first!
Sincerely,
Glenn Hurowitz
Founder & CEO
