Amber Hardy

Amber Hardy oversees the sustainability efforts at ALDI, America’s fastest-growing grocery chain. This year the supermarket became the first U.S. food retailer to commit to phasing out super-polluting chemical refrigerants, and aims for all its stores to use natural refrigerants by 2035.

What is the single most important action you think the public, or a specific company or government (other than your own), needs to take in the next year to advance the climate agenda?

Collaboration. Sustainability is often the responsibility of a designated team, but to truly make a difference, sustainability needs to be embedded into everyone’s job and incorporated as a foundational way of thinking.  

At ALDI, collaboration is critical to making progress on our ambition to become the most sustainable grocer in the country, and to accomplish two major goals we recently announced. First, ALDI SOUTH Group announced its goal to reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions across its entire value chain by 2050, making it one of the first international grocery retailers with net-zero emissions targets validated by the Science Based Targets initiative. In addition, ALDI U.S. announced it would transition to natural refrigerants in all U.S. stores by the end of 2035. Already, ALDI teams have collaborated to install these refrigerants in over 700 stores, helping save nearly 60% of potential carbon emissions each year.

Neither of these goals can be accomplished in a silo, and it’s why we are working across markets and departments to fulfill our shared responsibility: addressing climate change so that we can continue to offer affordable, high-quality groceries our shoppers love. Our collaboration in action ranges from working with our buying team to ensure we partner closely with suppliers to decarbonize our supply chain to working with my facilities team to continue reducing our operational footprint.

What’s one sustainability effort you personally will try to adopt in the next year, and why?

Spending more time teaching (and showing) my children that day-to-day decisions can add up to making a real impact. Recently my children were asking questions about what I do at work besides “energy,” as to them my job is focused on video calls and emails. This made me realize that I am missing one of the best opportunities to effect real change: educating the future generation on the power of small, intentional actions to make a real difference. At home, building knowledge and everyday good habits with my children to support a more sustainable future is a personal goal. This can include considering where we can scale back on energy or water use, making sure we eat all our food instead of wasting it, and getting involved with the local organizations that are striving to make our community better. By instilling these habits in my kids from an early age, it is my hope that sustainable decision making is integrated into their day to day lives as they grow up and engage with the world.

What is a climate solution (other than your own) that isn't getting the attention or funding it deserves?

Water conservation deserves a bigger seat at the sustainability table. Reducing energy consumption tends to get a larger spotlight, but water conservation is also integral to combating climate change and reducing emissions, as the process of extracting, treating, and transporting water requires significant energy use. Water conservation and sanitation should consistently be a part of the sustainability equation, especially when it comes to energy efficiency.