Carrefour Commitment on Sustainability

Aurelie Palomba, HPC Quality Manager, Carrefour (France) is targeting zero deforestation of non-farmed wood so Carrefour will only buy products which use no materials from high conservation value forests or species listed by either the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, or the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species.  Suppliers must also respect the rights of the forest dwellers.  Problem countries were listed as China, Russia, USA, Canada and Brazil.

Carrefour will avoid any untraceable tropical hardwood furniture, use only recycled paper and packaging and by 2015 will buy no palm oil which is not certified 100% sustainable.  It is working with suppliers to comply with its legal obligations under EU995 which come into effect in March 2013.  Suppliers are expected to “self diagnose” using an on-line questionnaire with 49 sustainability criteria.  Medals will be awarded to the best performers, and an external auditor will visit suppliers to ensure best practices and recommend improvements.  Last year the best tissue products supplier was SCA Hygiene Products because 100% of its wood supplies are FSC or PEFC certified.