FRANCE. Lagardère Travel Retail has joined eight French retailers to launch Low Emission Sustainable Sourcing (LESS), a sustainability collective aimed at reducing CO₂ emissions across the supply chain in the food and non-food retail sector.
Coordinated by Perifem and the Fédération du Commerce et de la Distribution, the initiative includes domestic retailers Auchan, Carrefour, Coopérative U, Groupe Casino, Groupement Mousquetaires, Mouvement E.Leclerc, Lidl and Metro France.
Over 90% of greenhouse gas emissions in retailing are linked to indirect emissions from the value chain (scope 3). LESS aims to address these emissions by creating a unified platform that simplifies carbon data collection and enhances transparency.
The OpenClimat platform, selected after a rigorous evaluation, will provide suppliers with a single gateway to report their CO2 reduction efforts across all participating retailers, highlighting their commitments and progress.
Retailers will also gain consolidated insights into indirect emissions related to the products they market, empowering data-driven decarbonisation strategies.
A technical expert committee has been established to support the project, comprising Deloitte for methodological input, Sweep for data and carbon reporting tool expertise, and FoodPilot for product-level carbon emissions analysis.
Lagardère Travel Retail COO Europe & Corporate Social Responsibility Lucio Rossetto said, “This unprecedented collaboration reflects our shared ambition to lead sustainable sourcing and set new industry standards for environmental responsibility. By coming together, we amplify our impact and pave the way for a for a more sustainable business.”
The initiative is open to all French and European retailers and foodservice operators. Lagardère Travel Retail is encouraging all suppliers and brand partners to participate in this collaborative effort by sharing their ambitions and strategies on this platform, scheduled to go live on 15 October.
This collective initiative falls under the Planet pillar of the retailer’s Planet, Ethics, People, Social CSR strategy, which aims to reduce the environmental impact of its operations in close collaboration with landlords, brands and suppliers.
Lagardère Travel Retail aims to achieve a 25% absolute reduction in Scope 3 carbon emissions by 2030 (using 2024 as the base year), in alignment with the Science Based Targets Initiative requirements. ✈
