AholdDelhaize

Naam van het bedrijf
Quick Facts
Type	Public (N.V.)
sector	Retail
Headquarters (Benelux Organization)	Zaandam, Netherlands
Year of Origin	2016
Emissions (All Scopes)	70.5 Megatons of CO2
Total Revenue	EUR 75.6 billion (2021)
Stock Exchange	Amsterdam
Key People	Frans Muller (President and CEO) Kevin Holt (CEO AholdDelhaize USA) Wouter Kolk (CEO AholdDelhaize Europe & Indonesia) Natalie Knight (CFO)
Number of Employees	413,000
Subsidiaries	Delhaize (Belgium and Luxemburg) Albert Heijn (Belgium and the Netherlands) Bol.com (Belgium and the Netherlands) Albert (Czech Republic) Alfa Beta Vassilopoulos (Greece) Ena (Greece) Super Indo (Indonesia) Pingo Doce (Portugal) Mega Image (Romania) Maxi (Serbia) Tempo (Serbia) Etos (Netherlands) Gall & Gall (Netherlands) Bottom Dollar Food (USA) Food Lion (USA) FreshDirect (USA) Giant (USA) Giant Food (USA) Hannaford (USA) Stop & Shop (USA) Peapod (USA) Bfresh (USA) Eastside Marketplace (USA)

Koninklijke Ahold Delhaize N.V, stylized as Ahold Delhaize, is a Dutch multinational company owning various brands active in the food and retail sector. It was founded in 2016 after Ahold and Delaize Group merged. The company is headquartered in Zaandam, the Netherlands, and is active in various European countries, the US and Indonesia. In the Netherlands the company's brands include: Albert heijn, Bol.com, Etos, and Gall&Gall. Ahold Delhaize's brands employ 413,000 associates in around 7,425 local groceries, small format, and specialty stores. The company’s shares are listed on Euronext Amsterdam and Brussels and had a revenue of €75.6 billion in 2021.

Company Structure

Ahold Delhaize Executive committee 2021

Name	Function	Remuneration x1000EUR
Frans Muller	Chief Executive Officer & Chairman	5,718
Natalie Knight	CFO	3,097
Kevin Holt	CEO Ahold Delhaize USA	4,868
Wouter Kolk	CEO Ahold Europe and Indonesia	2,996
Jan Ernst de Groot	Chief Legal Officer	Unkown
Natalia Wallenberg	Chief Human Resources Officer	Unkown
Ben Wishart	Global Chief Information Officer	Unkown

Ahold Delhaize Supervisory Board 2021

Name	Function	Remuneration x1000EUR
Peter Agnefjäll	Chair member	230
Bill McEwan	Vice Chair	162
René Hooft Graafland	Member	134
Katie Doyle	Member	133
Helen Weir	Member	128
Mary Anne Citrino	Member	125
Frank van Zanten	Member	117
Bala Subramanian	Member	89
Jan Zijderveld	Member	93

Accountant

On April 14, 2021, the General Meeting of Shareholders appointed PricewaterhouseCoopers Accountants N.V. as the external independent auditor for the Company for the financial year 2021.

Main Activities

Ahold Delhaize is one of the world's largest food retail groups with stores in the United States, Europe, and Indonesia. The company has 55 million shoppers per week in about 7,452 stores.

Government

Ahold Delhaize received Royal Status from Queen Beatrix in 1987. Ahold Delhaize did not receive NOW-support during corona times.

Paris Agreement until Today

In November 2021 ClientEarth and the Plastic Soup Foundation filed a joint complaint against AholdDelhaize at the Autoriteit Financiële Markten (AFM) regarding transparency on the usage of plastic waste. The AFM is the Dutch authority supervising the behavior of participants in financial markets and falls under the supervision of the Dutch minister of finance, which at the time was Wobke Hoekstra. According to the environmental organizations AholdDelaize did reported insufficiently on its plastic waist in their annual report, violating EU guidelines.

In November 2021 AholdDelhaize stated to strengthen their commitments and set the target to reduce the emissions of their own emissions to net zero by 2040. However, this would not include their scope 3 emissions which account for the vast majority of their total emissions.

In may 2021 AholdDelhaize, along with other companies, signed an open letter to the Brazilian government to stop legislation that would make deforestation for agriculture in Brazil (mostly soy) easier. However, according to a Greepeace study Albert Heijn nevertheless makes about 40 million euros of profit from Brazilian soy beans, while 22% of all Brazilian soy exported to Europe is the result of illegal deforestation according to a study in Science magazine.

Financial Results since 2015

Financial situation

Year	Revenue	Profit	Dividend (per common share)
2015	23.2 billion EUR	10.4 billion EUR	0.52 EUR
2016	62.4 billion EUR	13.4 billion EUR	0.57 EUR
2017	62.9 billion EUR	16.7 billion EUR	0.63 EUR
2018	62.6 billion EUR	16.9 billion EUR	0.70 EUR
2019	66.3 billion EUR	18 billion EUR	0.76 EUR
2020	74.7 billion EUR	20 billion EUR	0.90 EUR
2021	75.6 billion EUR	20 billion EUR	0.95 EUR

Scandals and controversies

Any dirt on the companies can be added here.

Current Emissions

Total emissions 70.51 Megatonnes of CO2

Scope 1	Scope 2	Scope 3
1.73 Megatonnes of CO2	1.85 Megatonnes of CO2	65.93 Megatonnes of CO2

Scope 1 & 2

Scope 1 and 2 Megatonnes of CO₂ (2021)

Type	2021
Scope 1 location based	1.73
Scope 2 Market Based	1.10
Scope 2 Location Based	1.75
Total	5.58

Ahold Delhaize reports its scope 1 and 2 emissions based on the Greenhouse Gas Protocol Corporate Standard. Types of emissions included in Scope 1 and 2 for Ahold Delhaize is Energy Consumption, Refrigerants, and Transport.

Scope 3

The scope 3 emissions are emissions from the company's value chain. By far the biggest portion of Ahold Delhaize’s total emissions can be attributed to their scope 3 emissions. The biggest contribution in scope 3 comes from purchased goods and services, namely 88%. In 2021 Ahold Delhaize' scope 3 emissions was 65.93 Megatonnes of CO₂

Ahold Delhaize reports on its Scope 3 emissions with a one-year delay due to the complexity of the data.

Climate Policy and Plans

The main two targets set for carbon emissions include:

• the commitment to become a net-zero company for scopes 1 and 2 by 2040

• and become net-zero for scope 3 by 2050.

Ahold Delhaize has put few concrete plans in their sustainability report to live up to these goals. With regard to scope 1 and 2 emissions, the company has set 6 goals.

1. Ahold Delhaize plans to replace refrigerator systems with lower GHG alternatives as refrigeration and electricity produce 85% of scope 1 and 2 emissions. In order to achieve net-zero carbon emissions Ahold Delhaize will have to replace around 30-40% of existing refrigeration systems and have to improve 60-70% of existing systems by replacing coolants.

2. The company aims to speed up the switch to renewable power through renewable energy credit, power purchase agreements, and energy efficiencies from replaced refrigerants.

3. Ahold Delhaize aims to build and remodel stores in the most energy-efficient way. For example, by installing LED lights and heat pumps.

4. Simililairly to the 3rd target, the 4th target includes switching to low-carbon heating initiatives such as heat pumps.

5. Ahold Delhaize wants to convert both its heavy and light transportation fleet to zero-carbon alternatives such as electric vehicles.

6. Lastly, the company aims to apply an internal carbon price model to investment proposals from their local brands.

A detailed plan for Scope 3 emissions will be published no later than November 2022. The company says for now it will reduce its scope 3 emissions by focusing on four different areas:

Supplier engagement

Most of scope 3 emissions come from the products Ahold Delhaize's brands sell. Therefore, the company wants to engage with suppliers to reduce their emissions.

Waste Management

Ahold Delhaize aims to reduce its food waste by 50% by 2030.

Low-Carbon products

The company aims to increase technologies such as blockchain and artificial intelligence to bring customers more transparency about their food and therefore help them make better choices.

Outsourced transport services

half of Ahold Delhaize's transport is currently handled by third-party service providers. The company aims to reduce these emissions.

Due Diligence

Keep the broader context in mind. Is the company integer when it comes to deforestation, palm oil, biodiversity, human rights etc etc? Be critical in the sources used here.

Conclusion

Ahold Delhaize is one of the world's largest food retail groups with stores in the United States, Europe, and Indonesia. with 55 million shoppers per week in about 7,452 stores, this company has the moral responsibility to work against climate change.

Ahold Delhaize has set two clear goals for the future. To be net-zero for scopes 1 and 2 by 2040, and for scope 3 by 2050. However, the phase-out plan or intermediate goals to reach net-zero are not clear enough. Ahold Delhaize lacks a clear plan on how they will stay in line with the Paris Agreement. As there is no clear plan for the reduction in Scope 3 emissions, it can be said that the current plan does not do enough to stay within 1.5 degrees.