Ahold's Albert Heijn Supports Sustainable of Palm Oil, Timber and Soy Production

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October 11, 2012

Dutch retailer Albert Heijn and the Wereld Natuur Fonds (WNF), the Dutch branch of the World Wildlife Fund, have joined forces to help make the international production of palm oil, timber and soy more sustainable.

Albert Heijn has committed that its store brands will only contain the sustainably sourced versions of these products. This latest agreement builds on a successful WNF and Albert Heijn initiative to make seafood more sustainable.

By 2013, the palm oil in all of Albert Heijn’s store brands products will be sustainable, including margarine, cookies, soap, and cosmetics. All the wood and paper products that Albert Heijn sells will be FSC certified by 2015, and its magazines – such as Allerhande – will be printed on FSC-certified paper. Together, Albert Heijn and WNF will encourage dairy, meat and eggs suppliers to use sustainable soy-based animal feed by the end of 2015, by which date Albert Heijn will only sell sustainably caught, MSC certified fish, or ASC-certified fish that has been sustainably farmed.

“This new partnership with Albert Heijn is a key step towards a greener economy,” says Johan van de Gronden, the WNF’s CEO. “Today’s production methods for palm oil, timber, soy and seafood for our daily consumption is devastating our natural environment, with tropical forests disappearing and oceans cleared of their diverse stocks. It’s a road to nowhere that we simply can’t continue on. By joining forces with Albert Heijn, we’ll be able to make international commodity supply chains sustainable and get the entire market moving.’’

Albert Heijn and WNF also launched their second Super Animals campaign. By collecting Super Animals cards and saving them in a beautifully designed collector’s album, children discover in a fun way how special all animals are and that some species are threatened with extinction.

This second year of the promotion features the clowns of the animal world, as well as a guessing game involving these animals´ unique characteristics.
Annex

Albert Heijn is one of many grocery banners operated by Ahold, which also has a U.S. division that operators the Stop & Shop chain.

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