Speaker: Erik Petrovskis, Director of Environmental Compliance and Sustainability, Meijer
Description:
Our food system is at the heart of some of the greatest environmental challenges our world faces today. Food service businesses have one of the highest average energy use per square foot of any retail use. However, food service businesses are creative, resilient, and innovative! They are well-positioned to be leaders in our climate action.
Today we are taking a deeper look at Meijer, a regional, family-owned Michigan based retailer who has set and is meeting meaningful climate goals. Meijer operates over 270 supercenters and grocery stores
throughout Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky and Wisconsin. Meijer pioneered the “one-stop shopping” concept and has evolved through the years to include expanded fresh produce and meat departments, as well as pharmacies, comprehensive apparel departments, pet departments, garden centers, toys and electronics.
Meijer surpassed a key sustainability goal of reducing its Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions by 50 percent compared to 2018, a year ahead of its target by achieving a 57 percent reduction in 2023.
As part of its ongoing commitment to sustainable practices, Meijer implemented multiple key actions that improved its operational efficiency and contributed to its carbon emissions reduction milestone:
Renewable Energy Investments: Meijer has taken a significant step toward reducing its carbon footprint by investing in virtual power purchase agreements with renewable solar and wind energy.
Energy Efficiency Prioritization: Meijer has converted lighting at its retail facilities to energy-efficient LED, activated advanced building controls for optimized energy management and continues to conduct building recommissioning to improve overall operational efficiency. The retailer also prioritizes lifecycle asset management to replace equipment with more efficient options, and implements and tests new advanced technology, such as geothermal refrigeration.
Refrigerant Management: For the last four years, Meijer has achieved the lowest corporate-wide refrigerant emissions rate among all EPA GreenChill Program partners nationwide.
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