Responsible procurement

Our ambition is to implement responsible practices within our supply chain to offer our customers products that respect workers and the environment. This long-term task requires continuous issue monitoring, close collaboration with our suppliers and rigorous implementation programs.

Objectives

• Require suppliers to respect working conditions across the supply chain, as set out in our Supplier Code of Conduct (PDF)
• Offer fish and seafood products from responsible sources to preserve natural resources and encourage sustainable operating methods
• Reduce deforestation across our food supply chain:
  • Beef products: avoid products from areas in which the risk of deforestation is known to be high
  • Palm oil: avoid the use of palm oil or use recognized certified sustainable palm oil
• Require the application of practices aiming to ensure animal health and welfare by our suppliers
• Offer products derived from sound animal health and welfare practices:
  • Pork: broaden our offer of fresh pork products from sows that were not raised in gestation stalls according to the transition rate of our suppliers
  • Eggs: sell eggs from free-range chickens in all our stores
• Not market the main genetically-modified products on the Canadian market, namely sweet corn, apples and potatoes in the produce section and salmon
• Facilitate customers’ access to organic products by providing them with more visibility and better promoting them
• Assess the private brand cosmetic product portfolio to offer a responsible product line
• Enhance our cosmetic and beauty product offer for people from diverse backgrounds

For information on our key performance indicators, see our 2022-2026 Corporate Responsibility Plan (PDF)

Health, nutrition and well-being

Our ambition is to support our customers in their daily actions to care for their health and well-being by offering products that meet their aspirations and nutritional needs and providing professional services to help them take concrete actions for their health. We intend to continue to play an active role in supporting public health through our network of neighborhood stores and pharmacies.

Objectives

Product offers

• Increase the total number of private brand products that foster healthy eating by 10% each year
• Develop tools to help customers make better food choices based on their lifestyles
• Define the offer of products that foster health and well-being in our pharmacy network

Professional services

• Raise awareness of the importance of vaccination and make it as widely accessible as possible
• Raise awareness of the appropriate use of medication and encourage people to take part in the program to recover expired and discontinued medication for safe disposal at the pharmacy
• Raise awareness and support people who want to stop smoking

For information on our key performance indicators, see our 2022-2026 Corporate Responsibility Plan (PDF)

Packaging and printed materials

Our ambition is to optimize our packaging and printed materials by reducing their use, relying on optimal design, choosing environmentally responsible materials and facilitating their recovery and recycling. These practices aim to reduce the use of resources, limit product losses and diminish waste generation, while contributing to the fight against single-use plastic.

Objectives¹

• Reduce overpackaging and single-use plastic:
  • In our food and pharmacy banners: eliminate single-use plastic shopping bags by the end of 2022
  • In the fresh products sections of our food stores: reduce the use of single-use plastic packaging, such as polystyrene foam trays and plastic wrap and increase the recycled content and recyclability of our plastic containers
• Optimize private brand food packaging by the end of 2025:
  • Reduce the average weight of packaging by 10% as compared to 2018
  • Use 100% recyclable or compostable (fibres only) materials in 100% of packaging
  • Increase postconsumer materials in packaging to 45%
  • Provide sorting instructions on 100% of packaging
• Optimize the promotional material used in our food and pharmacy activities:
  • Reduce by 10% the total weight of paper used in food store and pharmacy flyers by the end of 2022 compared to 2018
  • Use 100% recycled content in temporary fibre-based promotional signage in stores
• Eliminate single-use packaging and disposable utensils and tableware at our administrative sites:
  • Achieve annual reductions in the quantities of products purchased: single-use plastic water bottles, single-use plastic straws and stir sticks and disposable dishware and utensils

Note 1: For more information, see our Packaging and Printed Materials Management Policy (PDF).

Climate change

Our ambition is to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions to limit global warming by focusing our efforts on key sectors over which we have direct operational control. Through these actions, we aim to contribute to the collective effort to transition to a lower-carbon economy.

Objective

• Reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 37.5% by 2035 compared to 2020 for an average reduction of 2.5% per year:
  • The main sources of GHG emissions that will be the target of our reduction programs are building energy consumption, refrigerants, waste and transport

For information on our key performance indicators, see our 2022-2026 Corporate Responsibility Plan (PDF)

Waste

Our ambition is to avoid sending waste generated by our activities to landfill with the view to achieving zero waste at our locations, representing a diversion rate of at least 90%. We intend to enhance our performance by mobilizing our teams to optimize our operational practices.

Objective

• Improve the average diversion rate of all our establishments compared to 2020:
  • Corporate and franchise food stores:
    • Achieve zero waste in 25% of stores
    • Achieve 80 to 89% diversion in 25% of stores
    • Achieve at least 50% diversion in all stores
  • Distribution and production centres:
    • Achieve zero waste

For information on our key performance indicators, see our 2022-2026 Corporate Responsibility Plan (PDF)

Food waste

Our ambition is to ensure that food that is safe for consumption and food residue generated by our activities are not thrown away. By redistributing them to organizations or giving them a second life, we are helping to address food insecurity and reduce the GHG emissions caused by landfilled organic waste.

Objective

• Reduce food waste in our activities by 50% by 2025 compared to 2016

For information on our key performance indicators, see our 2022-2026 Corporate Responsibility Plan (PDF)

Equity, diversity and inclusion (ED&I)

Our ambition is to strengthen our actions to support an equitable, diverse and inclusive work environment that reflects the customers we serve. We also aim to provide customers with a shopping experience with which they identify in terms of product offer and customer service. We want our initiatives to be a driving force to accelerate the transition to a society rooted in ED&I values.

Objectives

• Increase the number of women and culturally diverse people in management positions:
  • Representation of women:
    • Senior management positions: 30%
    • Management positions: 35%
    • Management positions in stores: 25%
    • Board of Directors: 30%
  • Representation of people from culturally diverse backgrounds (people who self-identify as being a member of a visible minority or ethnocultural minority):
    • Management and senior management positions: 17%
• Develop a pool of diverse talents:
  • Mentorship program: include at least 50% women or persons from ethnically diverse backgrounds in all the upcoming program groups
  • Internal movement: fill 80% of management positions internally each year
  • Hiring: 50% of new hires must be women
• Strengthen an inclusive organizational culture by raising awareness, educating and developing employees’ skills as they pertain to ED&I issues:
  • 90% of employees must have watched at least one short video by 2024
  • 100% of managers and senior managers must have completed the training module in the 12 months following their hiring (current hires must complete the training by 2025)
  • 100% of senior managers must have taken part in the diversity workshop by 2022

For information on our key performance indicators, see our 2022-2026 Corporate Responsibility Plan (PDF)

Socioeconomic contribution

Our ambition is to help reduce social inequalities, especially as they pertain to food and health. Building on our tradition of commitment since our founding in 1947, we count on the strength of our network of employees, merchants and pharmacist owners to contribute to the well-being of communities and generate sustainable benefits.

Objectives

• Community investment:
  • Dedicate an amount equal to 1% of the average adjusted net earnings of the past three fiscal years to supporting communities
• Local purchasing:
  • Foster access to local fruits and vegetables in our food stores year-round:
    • Optimize our purchasing throughout the year
    • Work with local producers to increase their production capacity
  • Facilitate the identification of local products in our food stores
  • Improve the variety of local products in our pharmacies

For information on our key performance indicators, see our 2022-2026 Corporate Responsibility Plan (PDF)

Product quality and safety

Product quality assurance and food safety are an integral part of our efforts to provide our customers with products that are safe and of consistent quality and meet their needs.

As a retailer, franchisor, distributor and manufacturer, ensuring the quality and safety of the products available in our network of food stores and pharmacies constitutes one of our most important responsibilities toward consumers.

We make sure our private label suppliers meet standards of excellence and commit to the continuous improvement of their performances. Our teams implement rigorous control systems and provide the required level of oversight to ensure that products meet our specifications and all applicable product regulations.

We rely on close collaboration with our suppliers as well as detailed monitoring of our products and their performances in order to improve our understanding of our suppliers’ quality and regulatory compliance systems.

For more details on our achievements, see the 2021 Corporate Responsibility Report (PDF)

Employee health and well-being

The health and well-being of our colleagues are primary conditions for us to truly embody our purpose and ensure our organizational effectiveness. We therefore build on occupational health and safety, respectful labour relations, talent management and an ethical, inclusive, respectful and positive work environment.

We are committed to providing an equitable and inclusive work environment in which our employees’ talents and aspirations are valued and developed and which reflects our willingness to promote the highest standards of ethics and integrity.

We take actions to continue to improve our culture of occupational health and safety to prevent accidents, injuries and occupational diseases and maintain good relations with all our employees and the unions that represent them by fostering open communication and the motivation to implement mutually beneficial agreements.

In the context of the current workforce challenges and evolution of customer expectations, we must ensure we have skilled colleagues today and in the years to come.

For more details on our achievements, see the 2021 Corporate Responsibility Report (PDF)

Data security

With hundreds of service points, we depend on a number of computer systems that are essential to our operations. In the normal course of business, we collect significant quantities of data from our customers, suppliers, employees and partners, as well as from the patients of our affiliated pharmacists and members of our loyalty programs.

Our first commitment is to maintain the trust they place in us by implementing the measures required to face the risks to which we are exposed, including cyber-attacks, and which could impede the availability and integrity of the systems or jeopardize the confidentiality of the data.

Our plan of action is based on technological security measures to stop inappropriate data use and protect the systems against malicious attacks and failures. We have also implemented processes and controls rooted in solid governance and proactive approaches for the different systems.

Responsible marketing

Marketing activities include advertising, promotion and sponsorships. We are committed to leading them with ethics and fairness.

Our customer-focused communication programs on all our platforms must be guided by the values of transparency, equity and truth. Our marketing must inspire trust and enable our customers to access quality products and services in our food and pharmacy banners.

Communication must never rely on misleading, false or discriminatory statements, be aimed at children or take advantage of our customers’ lack of knowledge.

Our responsible marketing practices uphold the highest standards, in compliance with the laws of Canada and the provinces in which we operate.

Ethics and integrity

METRO provides a rigorous framework for the conduct of its employees, executives and Board of Directors. The Employee Code of Conduct (PDF) and Code of Ethics of the Directors (PDF) guide and clarify the behaviours that must be adopted in corporate life.

The employee code of conduct reflects our commitment to respect and promote the highest standards of ethics and integrity in all our relations with our employees, customers, affiliate and franchise stores, suppliers, shareholders and communities in which we live and work. It applies to all employees and executives in the performance of their duties, as well as in any situation in which they may be considered a METRO representative, for example, when attending a special event, an activity organized by a professional association or a conference.

The code of ethics for directors establishes the ethical principles they must follow and details their duties and obligations. The code also refers to the corporate governance guidelines with which METRO must comply, as well as the other policies adopted by the Board of Directors of the Corporation.

Sound governance

METRO’s sound management requires the establishment of clear governance systems for the Board of Directors and management team to ensure reporting, risk management and controls are adequately integrated into the corporate structure. Further details are available on the Corporate Governance page of the corporate website and on page 6 of the 2022-2026 Corporate Responsibility Plan (PDF).

The Statement (PDF) on METRO’s practices with regard to governance builds on the guidelines adopted by the Canadian Securities Administrators and the standards set out by other regulatory bodies. The framework rests on several principles, including the composition and mandate of the Board of Directors, business ethics and executive compensation.

The governance that regulates METRO’s corporate responsibility approach is integrated into the overall governance structure.

Customer satisfaction

As it has been for many years, our mission is to exceed our customers’ expectations every day to earn their long-term loyalty. Our customers’ satisfaction remains the key indicator to measure our banners’ performances.

We have implemented processes, tools and teams to assess customer satisfaction on an ongoing basis so that we may evaluate and adjust our initiatives.