A new initiative called the Superlist Environment Europe 2026 has ranked European supermarkets based on their efforts to align their climate plans with the Paris Agreement and rebalance protein sales towards more plant-rich diets.
The list was compiled by Dutch consider tank Questionmark, in collaboration with civil society partners WWF Netherlands, Madre Brava, and ProVeg International, as well as the ambassador Physicians Association for Nutrition (PAN DACH). It compares 27 retailers across eight national markets.
Lidl dominates the rankings, with Lidl Netherlands taking the top spot and Lidl Poland in second place. Two Dutch chains — Albert Heijn and Jumbo — are in third and fourth place respectively, while Lidl Germany and Spain take the next two spots. They are followed by two German retailers, Rewe and Aldi Süd, in seventh and eighth place. The top ten is completed by Swiss chains Denner and Migros.
Only seven supermarket chains have published a detailed roadmap that outlines how they will reduce emissions in the near term: Albert Heijn (the Netherlands), Carrefour (Spain and France), and Lidl (Germany, Spain, the Netherlands, and Poland). Lidl announced last year that it aims to increase the proportion of plant-based foods it sells by 20% by 2030, compared to 2023 levels. Meanwhile, Carrefour exceeded its tarobtain for sales of plant-based alternatives in 2024, and Albert Heijn reportedly became the first global supermarket to disclose its methane emissions last year.
“The industest has failed to fully leverage its market potential”
Five supermarkets have reduced their total emissions since they first launched reporting them — ICA (Sweden), Jumbo (the Netherlands), Kaufland (Germany), Migros (Switzerland), and Rewe (Germany). However, the emissions of many other European supermarkets are still rising or do not display a clear decline. For some retailers, it is declared to be impossible to assess whether their emissions are rising or falling, as they do not report them annually in a complete and comprehensive manner.
Two-thirds of supermarkets include the reduction of animal-protein sales in
their climate plans, while half are setting measurable and near-term tarobtains
to increase the share of plant-based protein sales. However, nine supermarkets build no mention of shifting towards plant-rich diets to reduce emissions.
“Supermarkets have the strategic power to create a climate-friconcludely and healthier food system,” declared Charlotte Linnebank, Director of Questionmark. “Despite some pioneers, the industest has so far failed to fully leverage its market potential. This report identifies best practices and outlines concrete steps for every retailer, such as publishing short-term reduction tarobtains and detailed action plans, as well as rebalancing sales in favor of plant-based proteins.”
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