In order to conserve natural resources and protect and promote biodiversity along our supply chains, we are working on projects to create spaces for biodiversity and restore damaged ecosystems.
We purchase raw materials certified according to biodiversity criteria and standards such as organic, Rainforest Alliance or Marine Stewardship Council (MSC).
We rely on cooperation. With our partner NABU, we support farmers in converting to organic farming with the project “Gemeinsam Boden gut machen” (Making up ground together) (see focus topics Organic and Regionalism). Additionally, REWE supports the rewetting of peatlands in Germany with the NABU Climate Fund (see focus topic Climate Protection) – as a habitat for many animal and plant species and as a carbon sink.
In our biodiversity project, we work with farmers to increase biodiversity on conventional fruit and vegetable farms – e.g. with flowering strips (see successes). By 2023, more than 31,900 (2022: 26,300) trees, hedges and shrubs had been planted and more than 22,700 (2022: 21,300) nesting boxes and aids for birds, bats and insects had been installed.
We sell insect-friendly plants at REWE and toom Baumarkt DIY stores that serve as pollen supplier for honey bees, bumblebees and wild bees and nectar plants for butterflies. At the end of 2023, the product range comprised 125 items (2022: 156). We also switch our total soil range1 to peat-free alternatives by 2025.
We are reducing the pesticide level of fruit and vegetables as well as plants at toom Baumarkt DIY stores and avoid products containing glyphosate. In 2023, toom Baumarkt DIY store again replaced 48 products based on an external pesticide risk assessment.
We are a member of the Biodiversity in Good Company initiative.
We drive the sector forward
We are a founding member of the “Food for Biodiversity” association. This first industry-wide alliance aims to anchor the protection of biodiversity in the food industry right upstream in the value chain. At the national conference in Frankfurt in 2023, 100 players from the food industry discussed this issue.
We have the greatest influence on the protection of biodiversity with our private label products.
15.98 Million
Since 2010, we have created or enhanced 15.98 million (2022: 13.5 million) square metres of flower strips in Germany with our biodiversity project – the oldest and largest in the German food retail sector.
We cooperate with over 540 fruit and vegetable farms (2022: 550) to promote biodiversity.
All conventional bananas and pineapples2 that we sell are Rainforest Alliance-certified.
In the BUND pesticide test, bee-friendly plants in retail stores are analysed for pesticide residues. As the only one among the seven examined garden centers and DIY stores, toom Baumarkt DIY store once again had no bee-hazardous pesticides detected on plants advertised as bee-friendly. In addition, toom Baumarkt DIY store scored best in the BUND comparison with eleven large DIY stores and garden centres in terms of phasing out synthetic chemical/highly hazardous pesticides, together with another plant store.
We promote biodiversity: In Germany, we have been offering the new “Wegbereiter” (Trailblazers) products at REWE since 2023 with our partner Naturland. The additional revenue helps farmers to switch to organic farming – similar to the Naturgut Junior Helden products at PENNY (see focus topics Organic and Regionalism). The farms, such as the Kügel-asparagus-farm for Bavarian REWE stores, no longer use synthetic chemical pesticides or mineral nitrogen fertilisers.
We produce in a biodiversity-friendly way
The soil plant of Gebrüder Mayer GmbH, a 100 per cent subsidiary of the REWE Group in Lower Saxony, has only been producing peat-free potting soils for REWE and PENNY in Germany and toom Baumarkt DIY store since 2023.
