C&A is not new to the responsibility for the environment and people. With its 34,000 employees in 16 countries C&A is committed to sustainable and innovative measures to protect the environment. Now C&A is pushing significant further environmental measures, especially to substantially reduce CO2 emissions and to reduce the associated damage of our global climate. Title of the new C&A environment strategy:

We C&Are.

C&A is assuming long-term responsibility for our future. The aim of C&A is to be one of the leading five companies in the European retail sector in the fields of product safety, organic cotton, carrier bags, packaging and recycling, renewable energies, eco-store as well as transport and logistics.

Keyword: Organic Cotton: An important step is the launch of the organic cotton collection. After approx. 1200 tonnes of processed organic cotton in Autumn 2007; from Spring 2008 there will be around 7500 tonnes. This is equal to around 12.5 million items of clothing – including jeans, T-shirts, underwear and baby clothing. With the increasing demand for ecological cotton, which is cultivated without the use of artificial fertilisers and chemicals, C&A is encouraging the agricultural producers to convert to environmentally sustainable cotton cultivation in the long-term. Over the next few years C&A wishes to further increase the share of organic cotton, together with the organisations Organic Exchange and Shell Foundation. Despite higher raw material prices compared to the traditional cotton product, C&A does not charge any mark-ups. As well as the economic benefits from the customer’s point of view is the environmental aspect: For C&A the cultivation of organic cotton is an investment in the future of the environment and humans. From 2008 C&A will be offering its customers the organic cotton collection at affordable prices in all European C&A countries.

Keyword: Carrier Bags: From 2008 C&A will use shopping bags made of recycled material. 170 million carrier bags made of recycled material will be used in 2008. In addition, since March 2008 organic cotton carrier bags have been offered at C&A stores, in order to reduce the use of plastic bags in favour of reusable alternatives. The profits generated from sales of the organic cotton carrier bag will be donated to projects that promote the cultivation of organic cotton in developing countries.

Keyword: Eco-Labelling: With a reference on the reverse of price labels C&A wants to encourage its customers to wash the products at lower temperatures – at 30 degrees Celsius instead of 40 – which will also contribute to energy conservation in their own households. By reducing these washing temperatures alone, energy savings of 40% are possible.

Keyword: Electricity/ Renewable Energy: Since October 2007 C&A has been using environmentally-friendly, renewable energy. Around 500 stores and therefore more than 50% of the entire sales area of C&A Europe are now already being supplied with ‘clean’ energy; by 2010 it will be 70% of all C&A stores in Europe. The C&A headquarters in Düsseldorf and Brussels, as well as a majority of all European goods dispatch centres, are already operating with green energy.

Keyword: Eco-Store Concept: Together with Redevco Europe, C&A is following an eco-store concept – in the future this will guarantee a highly modern building and shopping infrastructure in terms of energy efficiency. In Autumn 2008 C&A will open the first eco-store in Germany. Here, an energy saving of around 50% will be achieved.

Keyword: New Lighting Concept: An environmentally friendly lighting system will be developed in cooperation with the company Philips. In the year 2008 this system will be incorporated into around 200 European C&A stores. 150,000 lights will be exchanged. The energy saving compared to conventional systems is 18%.

Keyword: Packaging and Recycling: It is our aim to reduce all packaging material to a minimum, which is why we have developed clear guidelines for suppliers. The share of packaging made from recycled material will greatly increase. The same applies to transport packaging, in which the goods are dispatched. In the year 2008 more than 50% of the boxes used will be made of recycled material. The aim is to increase this share to 80% by 2010.
In the year 2007 almost 1000 tonnes of plastic packaging and 18,000 tonnes of cardboard and boxes were recycled.

Keyword: Transport and Logistics: In the transport and logistics sector C&A with dispatch partners is pursuing the concept of an eco-lorry fleet, which travels with the lowest emissions and is planning the use of highly modern hybrid technologies. By 2010 almost all lorry transportation to C&A stores in Europe will comply with the environmentally-friendly Euro 5 Standard.

C&A is increasingly committed to initiating sustainable environmental measures – as an extension of the existing Corporate Social Responsibility activities and as part of a long-term environmental strategy.