Gruppo Finiper Canova presents “A commitment that can be measured”, its Sustainability Report 2025

Gruppo Finiper Canova has presented “A commitment that can be measured”, its Sustainability Report 2025, which for the second year describes and measures the Group’s progress on ESG issues.

The commitment of Gruppo Finiper Canova is based on six strategic pillars and translates into concrete actions and measurable indicators throughout the entire value chain.

Governance and responsibility

The Group has strengthened the management and traceability of ESG data through centralised digital tools and expanded dialogue with its stakeholders. Compared with 2024, the categories involved in the listening processes increased from 3 to 6, for a total of 1.168 stakeholders involved in sustainability issues.

Food culture

Quality, inclusivity of the offering and the fight against waste remain at the heart of the Group’s commitment. In 2025, checks increased to 3.501 annual analyses of in-house production, compared with 3.211 in 2024. Attention to different dietary needs translates into an offering of 39 private-label products dedicated to specific needs, compared with 31 in 2024. This includes the Amarsi è Piacersi range and, in food service, Armonia Vegetale developed in collaboration with Funny Veg.

On the food waste front, the partnership with Too Good To Go made it possible to save 172.853 meals in total, more than double the 2024 (+101%). The promotional initiatives Gusto in Tempo and Last Minute made it possible to recover products approaching their expiry date worth more than 10,5 million euros. Through the Regusto, Iper La grande i also donated 538.558 kg of surplus food, 30% more than in the previous year, equivalent to 1.034.563 meals, with donations tracked via blockchain.

The project “Every taste is the right taste” is dedicated to food education and was carried out with La Fabbrica for primary schools in Lombardy and Piedmont. The Report records 24.550 students and young people involved, 707 schools and 982 classes reached with educational kits on food inclusion. The project also included a competition to create an inclusive recipe book.

People at the centre

The watchwords of Gruppo Finiper Canova continue to be: ongoing investment in skills, professional growth and inclusion. Specifically, in 2025 the proportion of women in managerial roles rose to 30%, while 74 young people under 35 reached positions of responsibility within their first three years with the company. To support growth, more than 108.000 hours of training were delivered, involving 63% of the company workforce (6.640 employees). Finally, the Scuola dei Mestieri trained 1.910 employees in departments dedicated to counter-service products, while the Mestieri in Crescita programme recruited 51 young people under 35.

Communities and local areas

The Group is working to consolidate its social impact through donations, collections and urban regeneration projects. Following the formalisation of the Group’s philanthropic strategy at the end of 2024, 2025 saw the implementation of 184 local initiatives promoting community cohesion and the donation of more than 3,2 million euros through the transfer of goods. Notable projects include support of 250.000 euros to Fondazione Morandi Ets for the creation of two family rooms at the Domus Morandi paediatric palliative care centre in Monza, together with collections in support of Banco Alimentare (178,5 tonnes of food), Balzoo, Airc, Fai and San Patrignano. 90% of the Iper La grande i hypermarkets actively promoted at least one philanthropic initiative in its local area.

Environment and the future

The Report documents emissions trends and initiatives relating to corporate mobility and paper use. In 2025, Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions (the latter calculated using the location-based method) decreased by approximately 8% compared with 2024. The proportion of electric or hybrid vehicles in the company fleet rose to 27%, from 20% the previous year. At Iper La grande i, 24% of receipts were issued in digital format or as QR codes, with an estimated more than 500 km of paper not printed during the year. At Unes, in the first year of service activation, more than 900.000 paper receipts are estimated not to have been printed, equivalent to approximately 229 km of paper.

Suppliers and local supply chains

For the first time, the Report dedicates an entire chapter to the sustainability of the supply chain. The 85% of private-label suppliers markets from 1 to 3 products, expressing a model that identifies, product by product, specialist skills and businesses capable of enhancing local excellence. In 2025, the Group also began an ESG engagement process with approximately 200 suppliers ofil Viaggiator Goloso and carried out a pilot Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) study on 5 products in the coffee, fresh pasta and piadina categories. 98% of Private Label suppliers hold at least one certification for food safety.

The comment

“With the second edition of the Sustainability Report, we wanted to take a further step: not only to describe what has been achieved, but also to begin examining how our progress has evolved over time. For this reason, for the first time, we are presenting the results of 2025 alongside those of the previous year, making it easier to understand the performance of our activities and the initiatives undertaken,” says Michela Riva, ESG Manager at Gruppo Finiper Canova. “This is a way not to limit ourselves to taking a snapshot of what has been done, but to transparently analyse the impact of our activities in the different areas in which we operate: from enhancing people and their skills to supporting small local producers and communities, through to developing our young people through training. The Report therefore measures the present, but is also a tool that helps us understand how the Group’s values are translated over time into concrete choices, processes and results.”

This article was translated from the original Italian version with the assistance of artificial intelligence. In case of discrepancies, please refer to the original Italian version.