Phase out HFCs with stricter regulations and gradual replacement
Energy and environment
Owners remove an obstacle nothing else removes. Others must also act.
Why shareholder democracy is necessary
Supermarkets, manufacturers and chemical companies choose their refrigerants and can replace HFCs ahead of any regulatory schedule, so company conduct carries much of this outcome, while regulation locks it in for everyone. The shareholder channel is active: a Friends Fiduciary resolution asking Kroger to report on eliminating HFCs won 35 percent support in 2022, backed by more than 12,000 customer petition signatures, with HFCs accounting for 63 percent of Kroger's direct climate emissions. What remains of the problem is largely a government enforcement matter: EPA and customs officials are pursuing smugglers who illegally import HFCs under the phasedown, a black market beyond the reach of any shareholder vote.
How this was scoredNecessary
Necessary. Owners remove an obstacle nothing else removes. Others must also act.
We have not yet written down the two answers behind this rating. Recording them on every item, so a reader can check the reasoning and not only the conclusion, is work in progress.
Every rating is the higher of two answers, one for what companies do and one for what they spend to stop the outcome, because the same vote reaches both. See the full method.
Sources
- Common Ground of the American People: Energy & the Environment, Program for Public Consultation / Voice of the People, survey June 2016
- As Thousands Petition Kroger to Take Action on 'Super Pollutant' Refrigerants, 35% of Voting Shareholders Voice Agreement, Environmental Investigation Agency, 2022-06-24
- Kroger's Failure to Address 'Super Pollutant' Gases Triggers Pressure from Consumers, Shareholder Resolution, Green America, 2022-06
- Enforcement Alert: EPA Targeting Illegal Imports of Hydrofluorocarbon Super-Pollutants to Combat Climate Change, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 2024-09
1 campaign on record
Report on a plan to stop using hydrofluorocarbons, the refrigerant gases that make up most of the company's direct climate emissions.
Result: Voted down at the June 23, 2022 annual meeting with 35 percent support, on a count of 193,607,875 votes for, 353,365,358 against and 29,627,030 abstentions. More than 12,000 customers signed a petition backing it.
Kroger said it would address these gases in its 2022 climate roadmap without giving specifics. By its 2024 report the company said new stores opening from 2025 would use carbon dioxide refrigeration, and that more than 15,000 free standing units had been switched to propane, while a leak detection rollout slipped from 2024 to 2026. Green America judged the pace too slow and noted the company still trails Aldi, Whole Foods and Target.
Related subjects on other maps
How this rating was made
Every item on every one of our maps is read against one question: how far does this depend on the people who own companies voting their values? We answer it twice, once for what companies do and once for what they spend to stop the outcome, and take whichever answer is higher, since the same vote reaches both. The score carries its reasoning and its sources so that a reader can check it rather than take it.
- Pivotal. Owners voting their values can deliver most of the outcome.
- Necessary. Owners remove an obstacle nothing else removes, and others must also act.
- Helpful. Owners voting their values help, and others carry most of it.
- Independent. This moves without owners. Other levers carry it.
The advocacy record on this page holds only what a source we opened says happened. Where we searched and found nothing, the page says so rather than leaving a silence. Where a campaign names a filer the source does not name, it says that too. Ratings are ours; the list of subjects is Common Ground of the American People's, and we link to their original.
How we score dependency, in full.