The Week in Low Carbon Commerce - January 8, 2024

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Author

Keith Anderson
January 08, 2024

The Week in Low Carbon Commerce
January 8, 2024

Readers, I missed you.

Just before the holiday break, I was speaking with an investor at a firm that specializes in retail and consumer goods. Sustainability is one of several themes it invests in.

As he was getting up to speed on what we’re doing at Decarbonize.co, he confessed to being cynical about sustainability.

“I have a direct line to the c-suite at all the big retailers,” he said. “And none of them are asking for this.”

“Plus, we’ve made bets before, and they haven’t paid off.”

I could sense these misses still stung.

Around 15 years ago, when I was first beating the drum about online grocery and CPG ecommerce, I had a million conversations like this. In the typical meeting, I heard things like:

  • Online grocery has been tried (e.g. Webvan) — it doesn’t work!

  • Maybe it will appeal to a very small, very affluent niche…

  • It doesn’t make money; it’s not incremental; it cannibalizes the base

In fairness, a lot of this was true.

But, as we see now with hindsight, it wasn’t true for long.

Strategy got more sophisticated. Technology caught up to concepts. Competition improved access, customer experience, and unit economics.

Today, digital commerce is a discipline, a dedicated team, and a part of everyone’s job.

There’s not always glory in being early to an exponential industry shift. Early waves of investment and experimentation fail. Good ideas are executed poorly. A lot of bets seem destined never to dig out of the trough of disillusionment.

But it’s important to remember that shifts like these always feel slow and small—until suddenly, they’re seemingly everywhere.

The momentum isn’t easy to see unless you’re looking for it. Sometimes its even harder to see if you have skin in the game, and things haven’t gone your way.

Maybe you know someone cynical too?

If so, next month’s Intro to Retail & CPG Industry Climate Action webinar may be a good on-ramp to understanding why things are changing so quickly, and what it means to ways of working and the customer experience.

Free for members and just $395 for enterprise-wide access for non-members

In this week’s newsletter, don’t miss news about new climate plans from Danone and Ahold, plus fresh funding and jobs.

Keith

What’s Hot

🧑‍🌾 Where Food Comes From, an independent third-party food production verification company, acquired the Upcycled Certified Program from the Upcycled Food Association.
[Link]

🔌 The UK’s Defra announced an open consultation on a new plan for handling e-waste. Starting in 2026, producers and retailers will cover the costs of collecting e-waste, including cables and small electrical appliances. The aim is to shift the responsibility and expenses of handling products’ end-of-life from taxpayers to retailers.
[Link]

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Retailers

🛒 Ahold updated its Climate Plan, including goals to reduce Scope 3 emissions by 37% by 2030 and net-zero by 2050 against a baseline year of 2020.

Ahold’s priorities for reducing Scope 3 emissions are:

  1. Engaging suppliers and farmers

  2. Providing assortments with a lower carbon footprint

  3. Encouraging customers to choose lower emission products

The company also announced specific expectations for suppliers:

  • Suppliers that represent 70% of Ahold’s footprint will be asked to commit to SBTi by 2025

  • All suppliers will be asked to report on scope 3 by 2025

  • All Ahold banners in Europe will commit to baseline current protein ratio and set protein ratio targets by the end of 2024

[Link]

📦 Amazon’s chief sustainability officer, Kara Hurst, spoke with McKinsey about the company’s climate and sustainability ambitions.
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☕ Starbucks announced that customers in the U.S. and Canada can use reusable cups and mugs for in-cafe, mobile, and drive-thru orders at all company-owned and participating franchise stores. Customers that bring their own cup will receive a $0.10 discount, with an additional incentive for loyalty program participants.
[Link]

🥣 Aldi UK announced it has achieved a 57% reduction in food waste intensity (food waste as a percentage of sales), hitting its 2030 target eight years early. The retailer is revising its goals to target a 90% reduction by 2030.
[Link]

Brands

🥛 Danone agreed to sell its Horizon Organic and Wallaby premium organic dairy units in the US to Platinum Equity, a US-based investment firm. The sale is part of a portfolio review and asset rotation program announced in March 2022. The units represent ~3% of Danone’s global revenues and were dilutive to LFL sales and recurring operating margin.

In Danone’s Climate Transition Plan, published in late December, the company highlights that decarbonizing its milk supply is a priority, with milk-related emissions accounting for just over half (57%) of Danone’s agriculture footprint and 70% of its methane emissions. “Low-carbon by design and portfolio management” is a key pillar of the company’s plan.
[Link]

Deals and funding

🥣 Friendlier, a Toronto-based reusable packaging company, raised $5M for national expansion in Canada.
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🥩 Libre Foods, a producer of mycelium for meat alternatives based in Barcelona, Spain, raised a €335K grant.
[Link]

👟 Braskem America, a Philadelphia-based polypropylene producer, received an R&D grant of more than $50,000 to support research into ethylene-vinyl acetate (or EVA) waste.
[Link]

From the podcast

Since the show’s launch in early November, we’ve released 9 episodes of the Decarbonizing Commerce podcast, featuring experts and entrepreneurs from companies like HiBar, CarbonCloud, Petaluma, SPINS, Scope3, and more.

And as we enter 2024, we have an exciting lineup of episodes releasing soon.

If you’re not already subscribed on your favorite platform, now would be a great time to check out past episodes and subscribe so you don’t miss the next wave.

And if you are a subscriber? Share it with your colleagues, or let us know who you’d love to hear on the show next.

Check out all of the jobs (or post yours) on the Decarbonizing Commerce Career Board.