Target has joined the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) GreenChill program, in a move that the retailer says will further reduce its emissions from refrigeration.
GreenChill offers its partners an industry benchmarking system, greater access to EPA research, and help in developing environmental stewardship goals, in an effort to reduce refrigerants’ impact on the ozone layer and climate change. The EPA says that partners on average reduce their corporate refrigerant emissions by almost ten percent in the first year of membership.
GreenChill also encourages emission reductions at individual stores through a certification program. To be certified, a store must emit at least 65 percent less refrigerant than the average supermarket.
The program’s 37 retail partners include Albertson’s, Fresh & Easy, Publix, Supervalu and Whole Foods. GreenChill also has four partners among advanced refrigeration manufacturers, and seven among retrofit chemical and secondary fluid manufacturers, including DuPont, Dow Chemical and Honeywell.
“ announcement represents an important step in reducing Target's refrigeration emissions,” the company’s vice president of property development operations, Dan Riley, said.
Target has a goal of earning the Energy Star label for at least 75 percent of its U.S. buildings and plans to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 20 percent per sales dollar, both by 2016.
The company is part of the EPA’s SmartWay program to reduce transportation-related emissions. It is also part U.S. Department of Energy's Retail Energy Alliance, and a founding member of the Sustainable Apparel Coalition, which was announced earlier this year.
In February the company agreed to pay $22.5 million to settle claims of dumping hazardous and combustible liquids, including allegations that it sent 5,000 pounds of toxic products to a Los Angeles food bank.
