No Supermarket Has A Methane Plan, But US Retailers Are the Worst Climate Offenders

None of the world’s 20 largest retailers have set methane reduction targets, despite meat and dairy making up a third of their emissions, a new analysis has found.

According to a new report focused on methane emissions, the world’s biggest supermarkets are failing us on climate action, with the situation particularly bad in the US.

None of the top 20 retailers – from Lidl, Rewe Group and Tesco in Europe to Walmart, Kroger and Costco in the US – report how much methane they produce, or have targets to reduce their emissions of the harmful gas.

Methane is 86 times more potent than CO2 over a 20-year period, and is the primary contributor to the formation of ground-level ozone, a greenhouse gas linked to a million premature deaths every year. Agriculture is the main source of human-caused methane emissions, with livestock farming responsible for the majority of this share.

Meat and dairy also make up a third of retailers’ emissions, though in an assessment of their methane contributions across 18 indicators, the Changing Markets Foundation and Mighty Earth found that only one of these supermarkets – Tesco – scored higher than half of the points available (51 out of 100). In fact, the average score was just 20.

“Methane emissions are a major blindspot of supermarkets. Our scorecard reveals a complete lack of action, with the most powerful players in the food supply chains completely ignoring their government’s commitments to cut methane emissions by 30% by 2030. This must change urgently,” said Maddy Haughton-Boakes, senior campaigner at the Changing Markets Foundation.

“Some retailers acknowledge the problem and have taken small steps, but none are treating it with the urgency it demands – there are no real leaders here,” she added.

Retailer net-zero commitments ’empty words’

The Methane Action Tracker report assessed each retailer’s climate action based on five broad categories: acknowledgement of methane and livestock farming on climate change, emissions reporting, reduction targets, food waste and landfill, and transition to alternative proteins.

Its authors noted that Scope 3 emissions (from across the supply chain) make up 93% of retailers’ emissions, and half of this share comes from meat and dairy. However, the focus is often on Scope 1 and 2 emissions instead – only six of the 20 retailers report on their Scope 3 impact, led by Ahold Delhaize’s goal to cut these emissions by 37% by 2030.

And while nine of these supermarket groups have net-zero commitments for 2050, these are just “empty words when meat and dairy emissions remain a blindspot”, the report states.

Broadly, there’s a large gap between European and American retailers, with the latter consistently lagging behind the former on all fronts. While Albertsons (US) and Mercadona (Spain) failed to score a single point, all five US retailers ranked in the bottom seven, with Kroger’s 9.5 score being the highest.

While 11 of the supermarkets acknowledged that livestock emissions significantly drive climate change, and many suggest that increasing plant-based sales could help, they “typically fail to implement specific, measurable actions to address their role in the problem”.

The retail sector also accounts for 12% of global food waste, and their influence on consumer behaviour means their role is “likely much greater”, according to the authors. Efforts to cut food waste are ongoing in places like the UK, the EU, and the US – yet several retailers scored zero on their food waste reduction policies, including Rewe Group, Migros, Edeka, Intermarche, and Costco.

That said, food waste is the area where retailers are performing best, with Carrefour, Leclerc and Tesco scoring full points on this specific metric. “This is often an area retailers hold up to illustrate their commitment to sustainability. However, in terms of methane emissions, it only accounts for a small piece of the puzzle,” the report reads.

Plant-based ‘protein split’ targets crucial

Experts have found that shifting sales in favour of plant-based proteins can have a massive impact on retail emissions, given the outsized methane and climate impact of meat and dairy. This has led some European retailers – like Lidl, Rewe Group and Ahold Delhaize – to set ‘protein split’ targets in favour of plant-based products. Others (including Tesco, Asda and Carrefour) have pledged to increase vegan sales.

Thanks to Lidl’s exploits in the protein transition – apart from the protein split target, it has expanded its private-label offerings of meat and dairy alternatives, and put them at price parity with animal proteins in some markets – parent company Schwarz Group scored the highest on the analysis’s plant-based protein category (12.5 out of 15).

However, others didn’t do as well. Costco, Kroger, Edeka and Migros are among those who acknowledge that plant-based products can reduce emissions while still having no targets for increasing their sales.

“Food retailers are ignoring the methane problem hidden in the meat and dairy aisles and risk losing consumer trust,” warned Gemma Hoskins, global methane lead at Mighty Earth. “Retailers are uniquely positioned to urgently drive down agricultural methane emissions in their supply chains. That starts with being honest about the impact of the products they sell and working harder and faster to reduce that impact.”

The report suggests that supermarket groups must develop plans to report and slash methane emissions from meat and dairy, set a collective net-zero target for 2040 or earlier, invest in alternative proteins to increase product offering and reach price parity, and aim to make at least 60% of their protein sales plant-based by the end of the decade.

“Cutting methane this decade is our emergency brake on runaway global heating, yet retailers are barely pressing it,” said Haughton-Boakes. “The companies that dominate our food system must step up now and take real action to slash their methane emissions.”