Sustainable agriculture

Sustainable food is not the norm, neither is transparency

Overall transparency and clear reporting on origin, transport and cultivation of supermarket products are missing. When reporting on origin the focus

lies on Belgian origin. Lidl is the only supermarket that also reports on the origin of fruits and vegetables from other countries. There are, however, specific promising practices in transparency across Belgian supermarkets, such as programmes for fish certification, carbon farming and organic farming.

Furthermore, supermarkets do not guarantee that their entire assortment meets the minimum criteria of sustainability. Aldi and Lidl do not offer any sustainable certified option in about half of the researched product groups. Carrefour, Colruyt, and Delhaize offer at least one sustainable certified option in (almost) every researched product type.

Efforts against deforestation are limited, transparency should increase

Most efforts against deforestation for soy in animal feed, palm oil and cocoa, solely focus on private label products. Actions beyond the supermarkets’ own supply chains, transparency on the origin and concrete action plans are mostly lacking. There are promising policies,such as supporting and purchasing from sustainable soy farmers, and committing to certifying all cocoa in the upcoming years (Beyond Chocolate).

Lidl is a clear frontrunner in sustainable agriculture efforts, outperforming other supermarkets on targets and reporting.