Loblaw Cos. Ltd. on Wednesday pledged to purchase all of its seafood from sustainable sources by the end of 2013.
The announcement comes six weeks after Canada’s largest food retailer released its second annual corporate social responsibility report, in which it announced that it is developing a sustainable seafood purchasing policy and publicized that it launched 10 Marine Stewardship Council-certified seafood products in 2008.
Over the next year, Loblaw pledged to:
• Begin assessing all of its sources of wild and farmed seafood, in partnership with the World Wildlife Fund
• Add more MSC-certified seafood products
• Develop and begin implementing a sustainable seafood purchasing policy, upon completion of the seafood sourcing assessment
• Phase out seafood from unsustainable sources
• Recruit fisheries experts to provide Loblaw with advice
• Communicate Loblaw’s policy decisions to its suppliers, distributors, franchisees and customers
“The world’s oceans are facing an unprecedented crisis,” said Galen Weston, the company’s executive chairman. “Loblaw is determined to think differently about how it sources seafood and to work in collaboration with the fishing industry and environmentalists to seek sustainable alternatives for customers.”
“This initiative is one of the most ambitious and comprehensive steps we have seen from a grocery retailer in Canada and indeed the world,” added Gerald Butts, president and CEO of WWF-Canada. “When fulfilled, the Loblaw policy will go a long way to help conserve the well being of our oceans and marine life, setting an important example for other retailers to follow.”
In 2006, Loblaw, which operates more than 1,000 stores throughout Canada, established five pillars of corporate social responsibility: respect the environment, source with integrity, make a positive difference in the community, reflect Canada’s diversity and be a great place to work.
Among the Loblaw’s 2008 sustainability initiatives were diverting 328 million plastic shopping bags from landfills, reducing the size of its circulars, saving 5,200 metric tons of paper, and opening a store in Ontario built to according to Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standards.
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