ICA Gruppen: Beyond Climate Neutrality | Sweden

As the leading food retailer in Sweden, with operations also in the Baltic countries, ICA Gruppen has an important role to play in combatting climate change – not just in its own operations, but in its food value chain and the entire food ecosystem. ICA has a long legacy of climate action but has adopted a new ambition to go beyond climate neutrality.

For ICA, going beyond climate neutrality means: going from being climate neutral (which was reached in 2020) to achieving a net zero impact from the Group’s own operations by 2030; cutting the climate impact from customers’ grocery purchases in half by 2030, in line with the carbon law and Paris Agreement; amplifying climate action in the supply chain, by encouraging suppliers to set science-based climate targets, with suppliers corresponding to 70% of upstream climate impact to have adopted such targets by 2025.

Key facts

Between 2006 and 2020, greenhouse gas emissions from ICA’s own operations (stores, pharmacies, warehouses and offices) were reduced by 76%. Altogether, emissions have decreased from an average of 111 kg CO2e per square meter in 2006 to 26 kg CO2e per square meter in 2020.
As of 2020, all remaining emissions are offset through carbon credits, making the Group’s operations climate neutral.
First steps have been taken towards the "beyond" ambitions of net zero impact in ICA’s own operations by 2030, halving climate impact from customers food purchases by 2030, and influencing suppliers to adopt science-based climate targets.

The challenge

Food systems are at the intersection of various major challenges in the context of climate change and sustainable development – ensuring healthy and sustainable food for a growing population in the face of increasing climate impacts, while reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The way we produce, eat and waste food is one of the largest drivers of climate change globally, with food production being responsible for a significant amount of greenhouse gas emissions.

The solution

ICA was the first food retailer in Sweden to set science-based climate targets, and the first to set a target to reduce climate impact from the food purchased by customers - the “My climate target” service was also the first of its kind. Other actors in the food and food retail industries have focussed on communicating the climate impact of individual products, and many “climate calculators” are based on users’ own estimates. In contrast, ICA has been a pioneer in looking at the total impact of customers’ diets, using actual customer data, and coupling this with nudging tools/services based on the meal (climate-guided recipes), weekly menu (pre-packed meal kit) and month (My climate target).

The goal of the ICA Grow initiative is to bridge the gap between innovation and commercialisation for plant-based foods, thereby meeting a need in the transition to sustainable food systems.

Helping people

ICA’s climate ambition covers all parts of the value chain and enables action outside its own operations. The company wants to make it easy for its customers to understand and reduce their climate impact from food. Today, they can follow their climate footprint from grocery purchases month by month through the service My climate target, which also provides personalised tips for reducing climate impact based on individual purchase patterns.

For those that wish help in planning a climate-friendly weekly menu, ICA offers a pre-packed Climate meal kit with recipes inspired by WWF’s “One Planet Plate”, and an average climate impact of 0.5kg CO2e per meal (including ingredients, processing and transport).

ICA also works towards the target of cutting the customer footprint in half by supporting customers with shifts in the product assortment and improving production methods for lower environmental and climate impact. A key initiative in this direction is “ICA Grow”, launched in 2020. ICA Grow is a major initiative that aims to increase the share of Swedish-produced, plant-based food through value chain cooperation focussed on scale-up programmes, collaboration and open innovation, and the promotion of local ecosystems.

Spillover effect

ICA’s Beyond Climate Neutrality ambition is intended to amplify the effects of corporate climate action not just by deepening its own commitments, but by (1) engaging its suppliers and encouraging them to set science-based climate targets, (2) engaging consumers and nudging them towards more sustainable consumption patterns, and (3) contributing to building the infrastructure and markets needed to scale up the production of plant-based alternatives with less climate impact. Suppliers’ climate initiatives will not only reduce climate impact in ICA’s own value chain, but for all actors that source from them. In the same way, consumers can be expected to bring new dietary habits with them when they shop elsewhere.

The principles behind “Beyond Climate Neutrality” can be replicated by other corporate actors, not just in food retail in other countries, but also in other sectors.