Farmers, food producers and workers face social challenges including poverty, poor working conditions, and health inequalities that can undermine supply chain stability and broader social wellbeing.

We invest in improving livelihoods of people across our selected food producing supply chains. We do this by supporting initiatives for enhanced living incomes, co‑financing regenerative agriculture practices that help mitigate farmers’ financial risks and supporting projects which enhance access to safe drinking water.

At the same time, we are committed to communities through the products we sell and the opportunities to offer healthier choices to our customers. We are reformulating products to reduce salt, sugar, and saturated fat, and supporting the transition to healthier diets by expanding our range of plant‑based options.

How We Move from Ambition to Action

Through our human rights and environmental due diligence approach, and our efforts to source responsibly, collaborate and advocate, we intend to support improved livelihoods in our supply chains. We also aim to achieve progress on healthier choices through product reformulation, an attractive and increased offer of plant-based products, nutrition labelling, collaboration and advocacy.

Supporting Thriving Communities

Through our human rights and environmental due diligence approach, our efforts to source responsibly, collaborate and advocate, and our investments in initiatives and partnerships, we commit to respect human rights and  support improved livelihoods in our supply chains.  

Due diligence approach

Human rights are universal. As an international business with global supply chains, we are committed to respecting human rights as laid out in our Human Rights and Environmental Due Diligence Policy.

The ALDI Business Partner Sustainability Standards translate this commitment into minimum binding requirements for all our business partners. They constitute our expectations for due diligence along our supply chains on matters such as child labor, forced labor and environmental stewardship.

A rigorous due diligence process, grounded in the United Nations’ Guiding Principles for Business and Human Rights, forms the basis for our work on human rights in supply chains. Regular risk assessments help us to  prioritize particularly salient risks and supply chains in which they occur. These insights help us focus where to establish additional prevention mechanisms such as audit and certification requirements, supplier evaluation and development, or placing particular emphasis on responsible purchasing practices.

Initiatives and partnerships to improve livelihoods

ALDI has identified opportunities to go even further in selected supply chains, and to co-invest in projects that aim to address systemic barriers and improve livelihoods.

We intend to invest in initiatives on crop diversification and agroforestry, a land-use practice that integrates trees and shrubs with crop and livestock farming to create more diverse, productive and resilient ecosystems. By enhancing their farming system, farmers can improve yields sustainably, diversify income streams, and strengthen long-term financial resilience. For example, we work with partners such as PUR to deepen our engagement in broader regenerative agriculture efforts, with an initial focus on coffee-growing landscapes in Brazil.

Additionally, together with a strategic chocolate supplier, we plan to build on experiences gained through the Fairtrade West Africa Cocoa Programme (WACP) and co-invest to support the transition of cocoa farms towards living income benchmarks and regenerative agroforestry systems.

Many of the challenges we face require broader action across the sector. By engaging with multi-stakeholder initiatives, we seek to share knowledge and work together to develop solutions for our priority supply chains. This also includes our work with suppliers and affected stakeholders to help improve wages for workers and farmers.

For example, with our cocoa sourcing through Tony‘s Open Chain for our Choceur CHOCO CHANGER chocolate bar, we support higher farmer incomes.

Initiatives and partnerships in water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH)

We intend to support access to safe water and sanitation for workers and communities in our selected supply chains in high-risk water areas. We plan to achieve this by co-investing in supplier programs, establishing partnerships with NGOs and international  organizations and participation in landscape and community resilience initiatives linked to shared water resources. This work is still in its early stages, and we continue to develop our portfolio with partners over the coming months.

Advocacy on policies and standards

We believe that the introduction of corporate mandatory due diligence into legislation is an important building block for the  realization of human rights along international supply chains. Mandatory legislation creates a level playing field and makes human rights along supply chains non-negotiable. We support the development of effective, impact‑oriented human rights due diligence laws and encourage open, inclusive dialogue on how they can work in practice.

ALDI has publicly supported the introduction of the EU Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) and has consistently called to protect the core principles of the Directive during the Sustainability Omnibus I negotiations. We plan to continue engaging with policymakers and partners on this path towards a level playing field for human rights due diligence across our markets.

We aim to achieve progress on healthier choices through product reformulation, an attractive and increased offer of plant-based products, nutrition labelling, collaboration and advocacy.

Product Reformulation

We intend to introduce clear guidelines to help our suppliers reformulate products by lowering salt, sugar and saturated fat. To further improve nutritional profiles, we aim to increase fiber, wholegrain and protein content of our products, with a focus on selected products in categories with the highest reformulation potential and health impact, such as breakfast, dairy, bakery, pantry, chilled and frozen products, and non-alcoholic beverages.

Plant-based products

We aim to provide healthy, affordable plant-based options aligned with our product assortment and customer demand. This includes plant-based protein sources (such as meat alternatives, legumes and grains), dairy alternatives, plant-based fats and oils, and fruit and vegetables, as defined by the WWF Planet-Based Diets Retailer Methodology.
  

Nutrition labeling

To enable our customers to make informed decisions on healthy diets, we plan to leverage clear and transparent nutritional  labeling on our packaging based on  recognized standards. We build on the significant progress we have made so far in many of our markets.

Collaboration and partnerships for healthier diets

We intend to continue working with and further strengthen our collaboration with highly  recognized nutrition and food associations.  

Complementing our engagement through food associations and the work of our internal nutrition experts, we closely collaborate with external advisors.

Advocacy on policies and standards

Legislation plays an important role to ensure that healthy choices are accessible to our customers. We are engaging with policymakers to  incentivize the consumption of healthy foods, drive easy to understand and consistent nutrition labeling, and support innovation, and we seek to further intensify our engagement in the future.