Sustainability Outlook 2025

“We are working together with all our stakeholders to realize a rich and sustainable society,” Seven & i said in its management report in 2023. Offering more sustainable food products on convenience-store shelves is another way retailers can help decrease emissions across the value chain. The products consumers eat and bring into their homes are top of mind when it comes to sustainability, according to Blue Yonder, Scottsdale, Arizona, a digital supply chain transformation company. In its third-annual sustainability survey, which polled U.S. consumers on sustainable shopping habits and more, over half of consumers reported that they incorporated sustainable food products (60%) and household products (55%) into their shopping habits in the past year. Respondents of the survey are also cognizant of the methods brands use to improve sustainability: 61% of consumers said reducing food or inventory waste was the most important environmental practice a retailer or brand should adopt. Convenience-store operator Alimen- tation Couche-Tard Inc. this summer announced it had partnered with Too Good To Go, a marketplace for sur- plus food. Through the Too Good To Go app, customers can purchase food that might otherwise go to waste for half of the original price or less. More than 9,000 Circle K and Couche-Tard c-stores across the United States, Canada, Ireland and Poland will be available on the app by the end of the year. “On top of saving good food from going to waste at a great value for the money, our customers can now leave our stores knowing they’ve made a positive impact in the efforts to reduce the impacts of climate change,” said Ina Strand, chief people officer and leader of sustainability efforts for Laval, Quebec-based Alimentation Couche-Tard. Strand said this not only bolsters the retailer’s global sustainability commitments, but it’s also an “innovative way for our customers to try our delicious food at a great price.” On the CPG front, Chicago- SURPLUS FOOD FOR PURCHASE

based Kellanova, whose portfolio is comprised of snacks, international cereal, noodles and frozen foods, has teamed up with grocery retail group Ahold Delhaize USA, Quincy, Massachusetts and North American agribusiness, Bartlett, Midvale, Utah, to reduce Scope 3 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from wheat farming across the value chain. This collaboration aims to decrease Scope 3 emissions, improving farm and supply chain resiliency. The pilot program will leverage financial investments from Ahold Delhaize USA, Kellanova and Bartlett to support the adoption of regenerative agricultural practices among wheat farmers in North Carolina. The wheat harvested and milled from these farms will be used alongside conventionally grown wheat to produce Kellanova’s iconic Cheez-It and Club crackers. “We’ve committed to both reducing our emissions and advancing the well- being of people, including farmers, across our food value chain,” said Carrie Sander, chief customer officer at Kellanova. COMMUNICATING EFFORTS Offering more sustainable food prod- ucts to create a healthier planet is what customers are expecting, but for convenience-store retailers, the balance of what’s good for the plan - et also needs to be configured with what’s right for the business, espe - cially when it comes to weighing the return on investment of sustainability efforts. In the Convenience Leaders Vision Group’s (CLVG) newest Vision Report, titled Envisioning Sustainability in Convenience Store Design, convenience-store operators are encouraged to adopt the 80/20 rule, which Scott Hartman, president and CEO of Rutter’s, York, Pennsylvania, describes as a balance where “80% of the stuff is good, applies, we can do it the right way, and the other 20% is a lift that is not necessarily worth the squeeze, nor can we do the squeeze.” Convenience-store leaders agree that communicating sustainability efforts to customers is necessary. But greenwashing, a form of advertising that deceptively uses marketing to persuade the public

SUSTAINABILITY OUTLOOK 2025