Report: Can the retail sector deliver a green recovery?

The report has been created in assistance with Reconomy and uses exclusive results from edie’s green recovery survey of 243 sustainability and energy professionals

edie’s Mission Possible campaign has evolved to focus on the green recovery, with a new series of reports outlining the challenges that businesses in key sectors face in relation to the coronavirus pandemic, and the opportunities that the green recovery will bring. Up next, retail.

—-READ THE RETAIL GREEN RECOVERY REPORT HERE—-

As part of edie’s brand-new Mission Possible: Green Recovery campaign – which supports sustainability, energy and CSR professionals on our collective mission to drive a green recovery across all major industries in the UK – this latest series of reports will explore why a green recovery is so important for the respective industries being analysed; what a green recovery actually looks like for businesses large and small within those industries; and how sustainability and energy professionals can drive a green recovery from within.

The report has been created in assistance with Reconomy and uses exclusive results from edie’s green recovery survey of 243 sustainability and energy professionals. This retail report has also been produced with guidance from in-depth discussions with a steering panel of sustainability experts from some of the world’s most respected retail firms in the vanguard of sustainability leadership.

According to the British Retail Consortium (BRC), the lockdown period from March to the end of June in the UK was estimated to have cost nonessential retailers more than £1.8bn per week collectively in lost sales. As the UK emerges into some form of ‘next normal’, many retailers have taken the decision to reduce their estates and staff bases, including John Lewis and Harrods. Others, such as TM Lewin, Bensons for Beds and Laura Ashley have filed for administration.

As such, The retail sector has struggled to deliver a coordinated response to the pandemic and subsequent lockdowns due, in part, to which organisations were deemed “essential” as part of national efforts to combat the spread of the virus.

This report features the results of the exclusive survey, insight from the steering panel and key boxouts on how collaboration, innovation, net-zero and the COP26 climate conference will shape the confidence of the sector in delivering radical decarbonisation. Importantly, the report highlights how a strong focus on net-zero and collaboration within the sector has created the building blocks to deliver a green recovery moving forward.

Additionally, viewpoints from Reconomy and the British Retail Consortium help set the tone as to why businesses can be optimistic when approaching the green recovery through net-zero targets and new business practices.

Click here to download the Retail Green Recovery report.

edie staff