The Manomet Center for Conservation Sciences announced this month that more than 90 Hannaford Supermarkets stores have been successfully enrolled in its new Grocery Stewardship Certification (GSC) system.

The GSC is the nation’s first and only supermarket sustainability certification. The nonprofit Manomet Center launched a pilot version of the program in September 2012. So far, 93 Hannaford Supermarkets have been certified. George Parmenter, who is in charge of corporate responsibility and sustainability at Hannaford, spoke on May 9 in Boston about the GSC.

“This is work we can be really proud of,” Parmenter said. “This is the kind of thing you go home and tell the family about.”

The Grocery Stewardship Certification helps supermarkets reduce their environmental footprint by addressing energy consumption, water use, waste management, product sourcing and a variety of other sustainability measures.

Manomet Program Manager Peter Cooke developed the GSC and tracks the resource and financial savings the program generates. Speaking alongside Parmenter, Cooke said that a 12-store district in the GSC would expect annual savings of 3.6 million gallons of water, 2 million kilowatt hours of electricity and 12 million pounds of solid waste. The same 12-store district would reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 103 millions pounds.

Cooke said the pilot project with Hannaford has proven successful.

“Hannaford stores are using the GSC program to provide context to employees on sustainability practices, provide for accountability and consistent environmental performance at each store,” Cooke said. “Grocery represents such an important business sector with regard to sustainability. The GSC provides a right-now assessment for these businesses and a mechanism to keep improving.  The program will track large scale environmental benefits as we scale up and spread to other companies and regions.”

For more than 40 years, the Manomet Center has used science and partnerships to build a more sustainable world. The Center is a non-profit research organization headquartered in Massachusetts with scientists working across North and South America.

For more information about the GSC, please contact David McGlinchey at dmcglinchey@manomet.org or 508-224-6521 x232.