Whole Foods Market Earns EPA Awards

Whole Foods Market has received a 2012 Green Power Leadership Award for sustained excellence from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for its renewable energy purchase of 800 million kilowatt-hours last year. The annual award honors sustainable-power purchasers for helping to advance the development of the United States’ voluntary green power market.

As well as its renewable energy purchases, Austin, Texas-based Whole Foods is generating almost 258,000 kilowatt-hours annually through the use of on-site solar arrays, which is sufficient green power to meet 107 percent of the grocer’s electricity use. Whole Foods has previously won three Green Power Partner of the Year and two Green Power Purchasing awards from the EPA.

The company also received the Superior Achievement Award from the EPA’s GreenChill Partnership for reaching its refrigerant emission reduction goal for last year. GreenChill collaborates with food retailers to reduce their impact on the ozone layer and climate change by lowering refrigerant emissions. Whole Foods has earned a GreenChill award the past four years.

The grocer currently ranks fifth on EPA’s National Top 50 List, as well as third on the agency’s Top 20 Retail List. The lists contain EPA Green Power Partners that have completed the largest annual voluntary purchases through July 5.

Whole Foods’ additional eco-friendly efforts include an Oct. 5 meeting between its Green Mission team members and the Yale community, at which Global Leader of Sustainable Engineering and Energy management Kathy Loftus will discuss how the company has incorporated its Green Mission into all areas of its business, and Global Grocery Buyer Errol Schweizer will discuss food and sustainability.

The grocer also provides information on its environmental activities on its website.