Rules for Coop's Sustainability Declaration
The sustainability declaration is Coop’s tool for implementing the guidelines for sustainable production that the industry has developed together under the initiative of Hållbar Livsmedelskedja.
The sustainability declaration presents a product’s total sustainability footprint based on the information we have on the country of manufacture, the ingredients and their origin, certifications and production methods. In order to produce a declaration for a product, we need to know about its ingredients and their origins. This information has been gathered from each supplier.
The sustainability declaration was originally developed as a purchasing tool to transition towards a more sustainable product range. We have now chosen to also use the sustainability declarations for our products to inform consumers and to further increase opportunities for more sustainable consumption.
Sustainability is a complex issue and encompasses more than just the climate. Sustainable food production also entails, for example, not depleting water resources and soil fertility, the responsible use of pesticides, decent animal welfare, minimal use of antibiotics and favourable conditions for employees at every stage of the supply chain.
In 2015, Coop was involved in starting Hållbar Livsmedelskedja (Sustainable Food Chain), an initiative involving 15 of the largest companies and organisations in the Swedish food industry. The initiative was coordinated by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), and the goal is to by 2030 contribute to considerably more sustainable food production and consumption in the Swedish food chain. Hållbar Livsmedelskedja has defined ten areas considered essential to sustainable products: biodiversity and ecosystems, climate and air, fertility and erosion, water, chemicals and pesticides, eutrophication, animal welfare, working conditions, local population, and legal compliance and traceability.
Coop’s sustainability declaration is based on these ten areas, and we have developed a methodology for how we are to use the available science and data sources to assess each area. In this way, we can visualise a product’s sustainability footprint and illustrate the inherent complexity.