As extreme weather disrupts supply chains and store operations, European grocery retailers are investing in supplier support, sourcing flexibility and more resilient infrastructure.
Extreme weather is becoming a permanent operational challenge for European grocery retail. More frequent heatwaves, floods and droughts are putting pressure on agricultural production, product availability and store infrastructure, prompting retailers to rethink how they source products, support suppliers and invest in their estates.
Discover how retailers are building resilience into the supply chain and retail operations, to adapt to climate change.
Protecting supplier resilience
Carrefour France creates an emergency support programme
Carrefour has introduced an emergency support plan for French farmers affected by heatwaves and drought. The retailer will revise fresh produce purchase prices to reflect higher production costs, temporarily shorten payment terms to 15 days, and waive penalties for logistics or supply delays. Carrefour will also relax fruit and vegetable specifications including weight, size and appearance. This will enable more imperfect produce onto shelves, while prioritising French-grown products.
For beef suppliers, Carrefour will introduce a ‘drought clause’ so higher animal-feed costs can be reflected in the prices paid to farmers. The measures build on Carrefour’s longstanding agricultural partnerships, which include around 30,000 producers in France. Overall, Carrefour’s emergency plan should protect availability and supplier viability, but it may create selective price increases and greater variability in the produce offered to shoppers.
Migros supports farmers with 2 million francs
The leading Swiss retailer Migros has announced it will release 2 million Swiss francs to support producers facing financial difficulty during the extreme heat across Europe. Migros has partnered with the Swiss Farmers’ Union to organise the initiative. The application process and criteria will be announced on 31st August 2026.
Declining yields and rising costs are placing significant strain on farmers. The funding from Migros is expected to quickly support the farmers most severely affected and they will be selected by the Bucher Gossweiler Foundation.
Migros is committing to long-term initiatives, helping Swiss agriculture to adapt and mitigate climate change to enable the retailer to continue sourcing produce from local suppliers. Overall, emergency funding may protect short-term supply, but longer-term sourcing resilience will require investment in climate-adapted production.
Building operational resilience
Waitrose investing in advanced refrigeration technology
Waitrose, among other retailers, felt the effect of the heatwaves across the UK, with refrigeration systems breaking down under the strain. Waitrose has announced it is investing in advanced refrigeration technology as part of its £1 billion investment programme to improve the availability of chilled products during increasingly frequent and intense UK heatwaves. More than 100 stores have already been fitted with next-generation refrigeration systems capable of operating in Mediterranean-style temperatures.
In addition, Waitrose apologised to shoppers for stock availability issues. As demand for frozen goods increased during the heatwaves, retailers came under pressure to keep pace.
Carrefour Belgium launches heatwave contingency plan
Carrefour Belgium has activated a heatwave response plan to manage sharp shifts in demand and protect availability during periods of extreme heat. The retailer is adapting warehouse delivery frequencies, increasing beverage storage capacity and tightening in-store cold-chain controls. These measures respond to a clear change in shopper behaviour once temperatures exceed 23°C, when demand rises for drinks, fresh food and cooling equipment.
During June’s heatwave, Carrefour sold nearly 20,000 fans in ten days, ten times its usual volume, while sales of ice cream and ice cubes increased by 140% and beverage revenue rose by 60%. The scale and speed of these increases highlight the need for retailers to build greater flexibility into forecasting, logistics and stock management as extreme weather becomes more frequent.