Aldi Partners With Global Tuna Alliance
Aldi Nord Group and Aldi South Group have partnered with the Global Tuna Alliance (GTA) to ensure that tuna fisheries meet the highest possible standards of environmental performance and social responsibility.
The addition of Aldi Nord and Aldi South (which includes Aldi U.S.) is a huge breakthrough for GTA, since the companies operate more than 11,500 stores in 19 countries across four continents, holding significant influence over the supply chain.
The partnership comes after Aldi recently unveiled its new sustainability charter, which included initiatives to expand sustainable sourcing of seafood. The retailer has taken an additional step toward seafood sustainability by making the origin of wild-caught seafood transparent and available to the public via the Ocean Disclosure Project.
With tuna representing a significant share of Aldi’s seafood sales, Aldi Nord and Aldi South has placed tuna at the center of their strategy to provide socially and environmentally responsible seafood to its customers.
Erik Hollmann, director CR/QA international at Aldi Nord Group, said: “Sustainability in the fish supply chain – and here in particular with regards to tuna – is a key concern for us as part of our sustainability strategy. We can only achieve our goal of sustainable sourcing – both in environmental and social terms – with strong partners. Therefore, we are looking forward to the cooperation with GTA.”
“Tuna stocks around the world are under increasing strain from poor management,” said Sarah Bollermann, director of corporate responsibility international at Aldi South Group. “We are committed to the principles of responsibility and sustainability in the sourcing of our own-label fish. We have set ourselves the goal of increasing the share of responsibly sourced products in our fish and seafood range. Working with the GTA will help us reach this goal.”
As part of the GTA, Aldi aims to strengthen advocacy for effective fisheries management across regional fisheries management organizations, and assist in finding industry-wide solutions to both social and environmental challenges within global tuna fisheries.
“We are delighted to welcome the Aldi Nord Group and Aldi South Group to the partnership," said Dr. Tom Pickerell, executive director at London-based GTA. "Aldi [has] exciting plans for tuna sustainability, and we can support each other to see these realized."
The GTA is an independent group of retailers and tuna supply chain companies working collectively to generate a step-change in sustainable tuna management across the world. By collaborating in the multi-stakeholder, sector-wide initiative, partners of GTA are committed to realizing harvest strategies for tuna fisheries; avoidance of illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing products; improved traceability; environmental sustainability; and progressing work on human rights in tuna fisheries. To support this, the GTA, the World Economic Forum and Friends of Ocean Action are convening responsible businesses, governments and civil society organizations to advance a voluntary commitment known as the 2025 Pledge towards Sustainable Tuna (25PST).
With more than 2,000 stores across 37 states, Aldi U.S. is No. 26 on The PG 100, Progressive Grocer’s 2020 list of the top food retailers in North America. The retailer is on track to become the third-largest grocery retailer by store count by the end of 2022.
