15 Percent of All Textiles

We spoke with Torsten Stau, Director of Strategic Purchasing at the REWE Group in Cologne, Germany

The REWE Group recently became the first major grocery retailer to join the Cotton Made in Africa initiative. What were the main motive factors?
The REWE Group is putting its support behind the Aid by Trade Foundation’s Cotton Made in Africa initiative in its role as Europe’s leading grocery retailer. What motivates us is clear. With cooperation from policymakers, partners in industry, and NGOs, the initiative is training 150,000 African small farmers in efficient and environmentally sound methods of cotton cultivation. The program raises the quality of African cotton and increases yields, while the creation of the Demand Alliance in the industrialized nations has assured that the results will find long-term takers. That helping-others-help-themselves approach has so far allowed farmers in Benin, Burkina Faso, Zambia, and Mozambique to break the cycle of poverty.

Which products will carry the Cotton made in Africa label, and starting when?
Part of the REWE Group’s commitment to the initiative will involve having at least 15 percent of the textiles on sale in over 5,700 REWE and Penny supermarkets carry the conspicuous red Cotton Made in Africa logo, details to be announced.

What do you see as an up-to-date definition of sustainability?
As an internationally active retailer, we bear a special responsibility for the products and services that we offer in our supermarkets. We gladly accept that responsibility. Purchasing plays a major role, since we can define benchmarks of sustainability to be met all along the value-added chain. Those can vary greatly depending on the kind of product. For example, with our Best Alliance label for fruits and vegetables we have our growers under contract, and our non-food suppliers are audited according to BCSI standards. With organic and Fair Trade, we offer a range of sustainable products to meet the increasingly high expectations of our customers. Those are just a few instances of our activities in that regard.

REWE has ambitious goals in the area of climate conservation. What next steps do you have planned?
The REWE Group is already Germany’s single largest customer for green electricity. Our internal audit on climate-related issues, published on June 26, includes the most ambitious CO2 reduction goals of any European grocery retailer. We plan to lower our CO2 emissions by 2.5 million metric tons annually by 2015, a total reduction of around 30 percent. Using the year 2006 as a basis for comparison, we will be reducing our CO2 emissions per square meter of retail space from 320 to 224 kilograms.

Contact:
Andreas Krämer
REWE Group
Corporate Communication
Media Relations
REWE-Zentral AG
Domstraße 20
50668 Köln, Germany
Tel.: (+49) (0) 221 149-1054
Fax: (+49) (0) 221 13 88 98
E-Mail: andreas.kraemer@rewe-group.com