Loblaw builds on legacy of community involvement and environmental responsibility with release of first Corporate Social Responsibility Report

TORONTO, April 30 /CNW/ - Today Loblaw Companies Limited (Loblaw) released its first-annual responsibility report at its 52nd Annual General Meeting. The 2007 Loblaw Companies Limited Corporate Social Responsibility Report: The Way We Do Business outlines the company’s approach to social responsibility and the values that support Loblaw’s commitments and actions. The report can be found as a PDF posted at loblaw.ca.

“The Loblaw team has inherited a strong legacy of social responsibility. Meeting our obligations, in addition to those of creating value for our shareholders, has been a long and proud tradition at Loblaw, with the core pillars of responsibility embedded into our organization today,” says Galen G. Weston, Executive Chairman, Loblaw. “In the past year we embarked on an ambitious turnaround with a simple, yet powerful objective - Making Loblaw the Best Again. One area that remained constant was our commitment to social responsibility. This first Loblaw report is an important early milestone in the enduring and integrated way of doing business at Loblaw.”

Loblaw’s pillars of responsibility are driven by the company’s mission to be “Canada’s best food, health and home retailer by exceeding customer expectations through innovative products at great prices.” The five pillars are: Respect the Environment; Source with Integrity; Make a Positive Difference in our Community; Reflect our Nation’s Diversity; and Be a Great Place to Work.

“This past year we worked steadily to set our strategy and confirm our approach, we reviewed our current initiatives, mapped our stakeholders and engaged with them, benchmarked ourselves against international CSR leaders and discussed and debated our commitments. Most importantly, we were buoyed by the work we already have underway and our commitment to do more,” says Daniel Tremblay, Senior Vice President, Corporate Social Responsibility, Loblaw. “Our pillars are being integrated into all of our business decisions, and as a result, our customers, colleagues, vendors and the public will begin to see our commitment more clearly through our actions.”

Loblaw’s ongoing commitment to social responsibility includes:

- The introduction of product lines offering consumers healthier eating and environmentally responsible living options

- the Too Good to be True brand was introduced in 1991 and reintroduced in 2005 as President’s Choice Blue Menu, the President’s Choice Organics line of products was introduced in 2001 and the President’s Choice Green brand was introduced almost 20 years ago. Today these three brands represent the leaders in their respective categories.

- The inception of President’s Choice Children’s Charity in 1989, which today is one of the largest corporate charities in Canada, having granted $8.8 million in 2007 to more than 1,000 families across Canada.

- The support of local, regional and national community initiatives and programs through giving and sponsorship; in 2007 this equated to approximately $10 million.

- Being one of the first retailers to tackle the plastic grocery bag challenge with the introduction of bagless stores and the introduction of the President’s Choice Green Reusable Shopping Bag

- Canada’s Greenest Shopping Bag - made from post-consumer waste. Among targets identified for 2008 include:

- Putting in place the systems required to track and divert one billion plastic grocery bags from stores to landfill in 2009

- Opening of the company’s second environmental flagship store

- Diverting 70 per cent of store waste from landfill and setting the stage to reduce packaging across all control brand products

- Reducing electricity use and implementing two renewable energy pilots

- Reducing fleet fuel consumption and carbon remissions as a result of electricity use

- Working with industry partners to develop an industry-wide carbon footprint measure that is based on Scope 1 and Scope 2 criteria set by the Carbon Disclosure Project

- Giving $10 million to local and national initiatives which support the communities in which Loblaw operates, as well as raising and granting an additional $10 million through President’s Choice Children’s Charity

- Training 52,000 colleagues and opening six new Learning Stores

- Rolling-out a Colleague Discount initiative

In the development of Loblaw’s social responsibility roadmap, Canadian Business for Social Responsibility (CBSR), a national not-for-profit member organization of businesses committed to implementing corporate social responsibility in Canada, assisted the company in assessing current practices and identifying gaps, as well as reviewing strategy and providing input into identified priorities.

“With this first report, Loblaw is building on its long history of community involvement and environmental responsibility,” says Adine Mees president and CEO, CBSR. “From its launch of Canada’s first national retail-branded environmentally responsible product line through the impact made as a result of its innovation in energy efficiency, Loblaw continues to advance its leadership across all areas of corporate citizenship. We applaud Loblaw for taking this voluntary step to report on its efforts, and our hope is that it encourages others to follow suit.”