Activities for sustainable food systems under the Code of Conduct for responsible business and marketing practices 

As a drafting organization and one of the first signatories to the Code, Independent Retail Europe fully endorses it by supporting its aspirational objectives and informing and engaging our membership on the Code. Our members recognise their responsibilities and contribute their fair share to preserving our planet for all future generations. They adopt strategies and take valuable initiatives for the economic, social and environmental dimension of sustainability, working hand in hand with customers, manufacturers and farmers.

The Brundtland Report defines sustainable development as development that “meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”.

Our members recognise their responsibilities and contribute their fair share to preserving our planet for all future generations. They have adopted strategies and take valuable initiatives for the economic, social and environmental dimension of sustainability, working hand in hand with customers, manufacturers and farmers.

A selection of their initiatives:

Environment:

• EDEKA and WWF expand banana programme for more sustainability: BOAHNANE revolutionises the market (23/06/2025)
• Kesko ranks as the most sustainable company in Europe in the ‘Grocery Stores’ peer group on the first-ever ‘Europe 50 Most Sustainable Companies’ ranking (09/06/2025)
• K Group: new measures to reduce the use of plastic and increase recycling (05/06/2025)
• Intermarché and the PDO Pêches et Abricots de France strengthen their collaboration with the signing of a partnership agreement (28/05/2025)
• SPAR Slovenia supports sustainable shopping (29/04/2025)
• Waste heat from a data center to heat a K-Supermarket for the first time in Finland (14/04/2025)
• SPAR tree planting initiatives support climate and communities (21/03/2025)
• EDEKA Nord puts first hydrogen trucks on the road (21/02/2025)
• Coopérative U, un engagement pionnier pour les agriculteurs français (20/02/2025)
• SPAR Slovenia sets up instore cooking oil collection points (05/02/2025)
• New ‘100 Most Sustainable Corporations in the World’ list out: Kesko ranks sector-best globally (22/01/2025)
• SPAR Slovenia and YouSea Institute collect 380kg of waste in marine clean-up (03/01/2025)
• The Groupement Les Mousquetaires reinforces its engagement in favor of food sovereignty (04/11/2024)
• Euronics International announces groundbreaking partnership with EU LIFE Program to launch the LIFE EPICS Project (19/09/2024)
• SPAR shoppers save 5 million Surprise Bags with Too Good To Go (05/03/2024)
• SPAR Hungary introduce environmentally conscious F&V containers (15/02/2024)
• Green Week: REWE Group presents financing program for climate protection(18/01/2024)
• Kesko ranks sector best on the ‘Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations in the World’ listing (17/01/2024)

Economic:

• The Groupement Mousquetaires fulfills its commitments to the agricultural world (26/02/2025)
• Agromousquetaires and France Travail Bretagne sign a partnership to support local employment (10/10/2024)
• Pour la rentrée scolaire, Coopérative U étend son panier anti-inflation aux fournitures scolaires (27/08/2024)
• ACS is celebrating the crucial role that rural shops play in thousands of communities across the UK as part of the launch of the 2024 Rural Shop Report (30/01/2024)
• Intermarché reduces the price of 1.000 products so as to fight the high cost of living (10/01/2024)
• Inflation alimentaire : Les Magasins U annoncent une remise de 10 % sur les achats du quotidien les vendredis et samedis tous les quinze jours (27/09/2023)

Social:

• The Fondation Le Roch-Les Mousquetaires and the Agence Nationale du Sport join forces to help committed entrepreneurs and sportsmen and women undergoing retraining to turn their business projects into reality (23/06/2025)
• Groupement Mousquetaires has signed an ‘employer of volunteer firefighters’ agreement to support its employees who volunteer for emergency missions throughout France (12/06/2025)
• Over 120.000 kilograms of sugar reduced from the nation’s favourite products – K Group is reformulating the nutritional content of Pirkka products to make them healthier (05/06/2025)
• CONAD PetStore collects pet food and accessories and promotes adoption (02/05/2025)
• SPAR Slovenia donates children and youth books to hospitals (17/04/2025)
• EDEKA Foundation helps daycare centers flourish: 3.100 vegetable beds for sustainable nutrition education (08/04/2025)
• CONAD collects medicines and hygiene products to support the ANT Foundation (31/03/2025)
• EDEKA stores and their customers collect over 35.000 euros for children with cancer (05/03/2025)
• DESPAR Italia collaborates with AIRC Foundation for cancer research (13/02/2025)
• SPAR Denmark’s defibrillators saved 15 lives in 2024 (28/01/2025)
• The Groupement Mousquetaires and its partners support the return to school of 115.000 students in Mayotte (20/01/2025)
• Veganuary: Plant-based nutrition at the REWE Group (15/01/2025) 
• K Group grocery stores cut prices on over 1.200 products – Kesko and K-retailers invest nearly €50 million in price reductions (02/01/2025)
• Markant Group did again its traditional fruit and vegetable donation in Offenburg (12/12/2024)
• Conad participates again in the National Food Collection Day 2024 (12/11/2024)
• Le Groupement Les Mousquetaires soutient plus de 70 éleveurs laitiers via l’association Agrimousquetaires (04/11/2024)
• REWE supports food banks with long-lasting food (08/10/2024)
• Pour la rentrée, le Groupement Les Mousquetaires mobilise ses enseignes pour accompagner les étudiants (10/09/2024)
• Campaign to collect medicines, self-medication and non-prescription items by CONAD in support of the ANT Foundation (06/09/2024)
• Coopérative U déploie un dispositif innovant pour protéger et apporter une aide à ses collaborateurs et collaboratrices victimes de violences conjugales et intra-familiales (18/06/2024)
• Intermarché launches the 3rd edition of the SENSATIONNELLES prize, which supports amateur women's football (08/03/2024)
• Women's Drive: new REWE networks for women - strengthened and going their own way together (08/03/2024)
• Kesko collaborates with Fairtrade to tackle the challenges of the wild berry industry in Finland (07/03/2024)
• "Mieux manger" - Initiative of Intermarché to promote healthier food and better practices (30/01/2024)
• EDEKA stores and their customers have collected around 40.500 euros for children with cancer (23/01/2024)
• SPAR Austria surveys apprentices to better understand their requirements and to be able to offer tailor-made training courses in an even more targeted manner (16/01/2024)
• Système U confirms its support to organic milk producers (15/01/2024)
• SPAR Gran Canaria butchery school creates twelve new jobs (12/01/2024)