Environmental Leader

Safeway is the first retailer to join the California Climate Action Registry, California’s only official registry for greenhouse gas emissions reduction projects.

Joining the registry requires Safeway to annually monitor, report and certify its greenhouse gas emissions.

“Grocery retailers use a significant amount of electricity and users need to be more energy efficient to fight climate change,” said Diane Wittenberg, President of the California Climate Action Registry. ”Safeway is a leader in energy efficiency. It makes sense that the company also step forward on global warming as the first grocery retailer to join the California Climate Action Registry.”

In September 2006 Safeway joined the Chicago Climate Exchange and committed to reduce its carbon footprint from the base year 2000 by 390,000 tons of carbon dioxide. The company also announced the purchase of an additional 174,000 megawatt-hours of wind energy, making it one of the largest corporate purchasers of green wind energy in California and the nation.

Safeway also wants to reduce overall energy consumption through building designs, process improvements and demand side management technologies in its stores. Specific measures include new refrigeration system technology in new stores to reduce electricity usage and installing no-heat freezer case doors that reduce electric heating; replacing exterior store neon lighting with LED lighting, helping to significantly reduce electricity usage; the installation of fluorescent lighting and other high-efficiency bulbs that  reduces additional electricity in its stores; and implementing a national recycling program that is recycling nearly 500,000 tons of materials such as cardboard, plastics, compostable materials and other food waste each year.

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