SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, June 3 (EUROPE PRESS) –
Mercadona, a physical supermarket and online sales company, reinforced its commitment to the Canary Islands in 2021 with an investment of 42 million euros that will allow it to continue consolidating its growth on the islands through an increasingly efficient and sustainable business model.
Last year, the company incorporated important improvements into its processes that have allowed it, in a single year, to reduce its carbon footprint in the Canary Islands by more than 6,000 tons of CO2 emissions compared to 2020, specifically 18% less.
Thanks to these advances, it has improved its environmental impact in this community, managing to minimize both direct emissions of greenhouse gases in supermarkets and in the logistics network, as well as indirect emissions, derived from the purchase and consumption of electricity from its store network, logistics network and offices.
Mercadona’s carbon footprint in 2021, which has already been calculated and is pending definitive certification by the official accreditation body AENOR, follows the ISO 14064 standard.
These criteria and standards are identical to the certification that the company already obtained in the previous year, in 2020, it points out in a note.
In addition, as part of these sustainable measures, the company invested more than 42 million euros in the Canary Islands in 2021.
This investment effort was allocated both to the logistics optimization of the logistics blocks it has in Ingenio (Gran Canaria) and Granadilla de Abona (Tenerife), as well as to the reform of two supermarkets and the opening of another two with a much more efficient, which allows energy savings of up to 40% compared to a conventional store.
This type of store, of which Mercadona already has 57 throughout the community, has, for example, improved insulation, LED lighting and intelligent management of energy consumption and also incorporates more sustainable refrigeration systems, which reduce the use of fluorinated gases and greenhouse gas emissions.
On the other hand, to continue with the social and economic drive of the region, in 2021 Mercadona made purchases in the Canary Islands worth 514 million euros from more than 700 suppliers located in the community, which makes the company an “important economic engine” of the region.
In addition, it closed last year consolidating a workforce of 4,637 people in the community with “stable and quality employment”.
Also, within the framework of its commitment to Canarian society, in 2021 it donated 1,051 tons of food and essential products to soup kitchens and charities throughout the community.
SUSTAINABLE TRANSPORTATION AND ENERGY EFFICIENCY TO REDUCE EMISSIONS IN MERCADONA
As part of its commitment to sustainable transport, Mercadona has introduced numerous improvements to its fleet, such as the elimination of elements that do not add value to lighten the total weight of the vehicle and manage to load one more ton per truck than the industry average.
The company is also promoting the use of higher capacity vehicles such as mega-trailers to reduce the number of trips, as well as reverse logistics to avoid empty trips, which has allowed it to reach a fill rate of 82% in 2021.
Mercadona is also committed to vehicles that meet the most demanding emission standards and 99% of its fleet complies with the Euro VI C, Euro VI D and Euro VI E engine standards.
In 2021, it has also continued to actively collaborate in the AECOC Lean & Green initiative, whose purpose is to achieve the objectives defined at the Paris Climate Summit (COP21).
Its involvement in this program allowed it to prove a 27% reduction in its CO2 emissions derived from its logistics processes in 2021, a milestone that has earned Mercadona its first Lean & Green star.
SILENT NIGHTTIME FLUSH
In addition, silent night unloading is operational in more than 800 supermarkets, which allows traffic to be reduced by using larger tonnage trucks during off-peak hours, avoiding traffic jams, speeding up unloading processes and thereby reducing pollution, both noise and atmospheric.
Likewise, in its commitment to optimizing energy consumption, Mercadona has continued to implement its most efficient store model and, in parallel, has continued to reinforce its commitment to renewable energies, with the incorporation of 11,500 solar panels in stores, logistics blocks and beehives for online sales, which represent a saving of 1,446 tons of CO2 per year.
