Sprouts Farmers Market is reducing the size of new stores by 23% in an effort to decrease carbon emissions and meet its environmental, social and governance (ESG) goals, according to the retailer’s latest ESG Report.
Sprouts currently operates more than 380 stores in 23 states and is looking to expand, with plans for new store growth of 10% annually beginning in 2024. In order to support that growth while continuing to pursue its ESG goals, the company said that it has downsized its new store prototype from 30,000 square feet to 23,000 square feet as part of its long-term strategy.
Alongside that footprint reduction, Sprouts also plans to continue to invest in energy-efficient technologies to reduce its electricity usage in stores and distribution centers. Currently 61% of stores use LED lighting and 39% of the energy for the retailer’s operations is sourced from clean and/or renewable sources. The company also is investing in new CO2 refrigeration in some markets, retrofitting high-GWP refrigerants to low-GWP options, and leveraging automated refrigeration leak detection monitoring systems.
While these efforts will help, the bulk of Sprouts’ carbon emissions come from external sources in the supply chain, primarily the goods and services it purchases (78.9%). Direct emissions from owned operations account for 6.4% of the total, and indirect emissions from the use of purchased electricity account for 6.6%.
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“We talk a lot at Sprouts about ‘doing well by doing good,’” said Jack Sinclair, CEO of Sprouts in the report. “To us this means executing on our strategy and delivering value to our owners while doing the right thing for all stakeholders — our team members, customers, communities, vendor partners, and the planet we all share. We do not believe in sacrificing one for any other, and the success we saw in 2022 is a demonstration of this philosophy in action.”
