Sep 8, 2008 12:00 PM, By MICHAEL GARRY

Safeway is the only North American retailer to legally commit to reducing its greenhouse gas emissions and opening its energy logs to auditors — moves it hopes will make it money. By: By MICHAEL GARRY

Driven by the need to cut energy costs, as well as by a desire to improve the environment, many food retailers have embraced a wide assortment of “green” strategies in recent years. But only Safeway has legally bound itself to the cause of environmentalism.

In 2006, Safeway, Pleasanton, Calif., signed a contract with the Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX) committing it to reducing its carbon footprint — the amount of carbon dioxide it generates from energy consumption at its stores, warehouses and headquarters — by at least 39,000 tons, or 1.5%, per year from 2007 through 2010, 6% in all. The baseline year of comparison is 2000, when Safeway produced about 2.65 million tons of carbon dioxide. “That's a huge reduction for us,” said Joe Pettus, Safeway's senior vice president, energy operations, who joined the company to run its fuel-station operation but switched to energy management about four years ago.

This article is part of SN's Premium content and requires registration. If not already a member, subscribe to Supermarket News today! Your subscription includes:

• Full access to the website, including over a decade of archives.
• The print magazine, delivered weekly, plus the Refresh supplement every quarter.
• More in-depth coverage of the supermarket industry than any other source.
• Surveys and industry data.
• Insight and commentary from industry insiders.

Registered Users	Subscribe Now!
User Name: Password: Remember Me	SAVE with a print/online combo or online-only options.
Already a Print-Only Subscribers? Upgrade to access Supermarket News' premium online content. Call 866-834-1247 to include premium access as part of your subscription!