Metro goes green with new Pearl River store

German retail and trading giant Metro officially launched its first global green store in the Pearl River delta city on Tuesday, with an aim to upgrade its sustainable development in the Chinese market, which enjoyed a double-digit growth in the previous fiscal year.

Jeroen, de Groot, President of Metro China, said the green renovation of the Dongguan Wanjiang Store is estimated to help the store reduce its annual energy consumption of as much as 50 percent.

The renovation of the store costs Metro more than 5 million yuan ($75,757.58).

Metro is planning to renovate all its stores in the mainland to become green ones one by one in the following years, Groot told a press conference in Dongguan on Tuesday.

"As company with a sense of social responsibility, Metro is committed to continuously exploring and practicing sustainable development by achieving balance among the economy, environment and society," said Groot.

"Innovation and change have always been the driving forces for sustainable growth at Metro and the green renovation of the Dongguan Wanjiang Store is our new endeavor in the field of energy conservation and environment protection., aiming to promote long-term social sustainability," he said.

After the renovation for cooling, the Dongguan Wanjiang Store introduced a leading CO2 Cascade System that features safety and energy conservation. The system is capable of reducing annual Freon emissions by some 260 kg, equivalent to the greenhouse gas emitted by 1,500 household refrigerators.

And in terms of energy supply, The Dongguan Wanjiang Store has made full use of clean energy, namely solar and wind power.

Metro which opened its first mainland store in Shanghai in 1996 has now opened 84 stores, employing more than 11,000 staff in 58 Chinese cities.

Its annual sales volume reached 2.66 billion euro ($3 billion) during the 2014-15 fiscal year which ended September 30 of last year, up year-on-year 17.4 percent.