Retailers Aim to Define Sustainability While They’re Rushing to Embrace It

In an attempt to regulate the pornography industry in the 1960s, Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart famously sidestepped the need to work within the confines of a precise definition by saying simply, “I know it when I see it.”

In a similar vein, the nation’s largest retail trade group is currently embarking on its own definition mission by spearheading an effort that aims to bring clarity and continuity to the wide-ranging — and high stakes — sustainability initiatives that are reshaping their own industry as well as many others.

Just days ahead of its upcoming annual conference, the National Retail Federation (NRF) has launched a new guide, “Retailers Reaching for Net-Zero,” that it said in an announcement will help retailers clarify and prioritize their responses to climate change, a problem it said was already affecting its members and their customers and investors.

“Given growing interest from investors, regulators, supply chain partners, employees and consumers seeking to understand how retailers are responding to climate change, contributors to the guide see value in providing clarity around terms and approaches,” the organization said in the announcement.

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While some might question the need to codify the language of the environmental sustainability movement, the trade group and dozens of its members disagree, saying the impacts and need to address them are unambiguous.

“[C]limate change is already affecting retailers,” the announcement stated. “More intense storms, forest fires, flooding, power outages and other climate-related impacts are disrupting retail operations, including supplier operations deep within supply chains.”

The group said in the announcement that the responses of its members currently ranged from sophisticated to unclear.

Net Zero? Carbon Neutral?

Whether driven by conscience, bottom-line considerations or both, the sustainability push is clearly an opportunity and a challenge for retailers, who are actively working to attract and retain environmentally concerned customers while also making sure they don’t fall on the wrong side of critics within an increasingly active cancel culture climate.

With that in mind, the NRF said in the announcement its effort and “Retailers Reaching for Net-Zero” guidelines are designed to provide an overview of the science, the business case for taking action and a framework for setting science-based greenhouse gas emission targets.

The group leaned on three dozen of its most active members to shape its sustainability policy, including Amazon, Walmart, Nike, Ikea, McDonald’s and Target, the latter of which unveiled its “Target Forward” initiative last summer.

Read more: Target Works Toward Sustainable Future With New Eco-Conscious Commitments

“As a company and a member of the global community, it’s imperative for both the health of our business and of our planet that we embrace new ways to move forward,” said Target Chairman and CEO Brian Cornell in a press release at the time. “We know sustainability is tied to business resiliency and growth, and that our size and scale can drive change that is good for all.”

The NRF also looked outside the retail industry for guidance and continuity in terms of how non-retail-related businesses are successfully responding to the challenge, including clear definitions for terms like “net-zero” and “carbon neutral,” the announcement stated.

“The NRF net-zero guide adopts the framework developed by the Science Based Targets initiative, which is being used by more than 2,250 companies worldwide,” the group said in the announcement, before highlighting four key focus areas, including emissions, science-based targets, greenhouse gas reduction and progress reporting.

In closing, the group not only emphasized the importance of the sustainability movement but also stressed the need for its members to intelligently address it via the adoption of “appropriate baselines, pragmatic short-term and long-term greenhouse reduction goals, meaningful metrics and standardized reporting approaches.”