RILA’s 2015 Retail Energy Management Report: 3 Takeaways

September 22, 2015 The SSC Team

By: Alexandra Kueller

Last week, we took a look at RILA’s Retail Sustainability Management Report, and today we’ll be looking at RILA’s Retail Energy Management Report.

Earlier this year, the Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA) announced their brand new Retail Energy Management Maturity Matrix, which hopes to be a tool that will be used by retail executives, individual companies, and industry-wide to help companies focus on energy management. In September 2015, RILA released their Retail Energy Management Report that uses the matrix to analyze energy management initiatives from over 100,000 RILA member companies.

Taking the 23 dimensions related to energy management RILA has identified from six key sectors, the report looks at where the companies rank in terms of maturity: are they starting, just standard, excelling, leading, or at the next practice already. RILA presents their key findings from each dimension, then provides resources for companies to reach the next level, case studies to look over, and how to get involved on a greater scale.

Here are three observations that really stood out to us:

Dedicated energy management teams

At 85%, a large majority of the retailers surveyed indicated they have at least one fill time energy staff person, with the average company retaining about 3 full time staff members. Despite only 15% of respondents not having a full time energy management staffer, roughly 50% of the companies indicated that they use a third-party or consultant to help with their energy management. With energy management often linked to sustainability, less than 25% of the energy teams report to their company’s sustainability/CSR department, instead a lot of the energy teams report to either the Facilities or Real Estate departments.

Continuous energy management improvement

From 2014 to 2015, all dimensions except for five saw improvement in overall energy management. The sectors People & Tools and Energy Consuming Systems saw the biggest gains, with almost every dimension hitting the maturity level of “standard”. While there weren’t significant strides from last year (except for “Food Service”), the growth is still positive. As more robust energy teams and goals are put in place, there will hopefully be an increase in energy management maturity in the future.

No one has hit a plateau

And speaking of increasing energy management over the next couple of years, many retailers indicated that there are many new initiatives in place. RILA has even forecasted that many of these new initiatives, plans, and goals will help push many of the retailers to an average maturity level of “excelling”, with some companies reaching “leading” status. Even retailers that are currently at “leading” or “next practice” have indicated that more work is going to be done with energy management within their company.

Looking to start a new sustainability project but need to gain support? Find out ways to gain that support for your new project or idea here!

3 Observations from RILA’s Retail Sustainability Management Report

September 17, 2015 The SSC Team

By: Alexandra Kueller

This past spring, the Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA) announced their brand new Retail Sustainability Management Maturity Matrix, which hopes to be a tool that will be used by retail executives, individual companies, and industry-wide to help companies become more sustainable. Fast-forward to September 2015, and RILA just released their Retail Sustainability Management Report that uses that matrix to analyze sustainability initiatives from over 50,000 RILA member companies.

Taking the 27 dimensions related to sustainability management RILA has identified from seven key sectors, the report looks at where a lot of the companies rank: are they starting, just standard, excelling, leading, or at the next practice already. RILA presents their key findings from each dimension, then provides resources for companies to reach the next level, case studies to look over, and how to get involved on a greater scale.

Here are three observations that really stood out to us:

What comprises a retail-based sustainability team?

RILA offered a breakdown of how many retailer’s sustainability teams look like, and over 50% of those surveyed indicated that there is one person or no full time employee dedicated to sustainability (and a surprising 10% of companies have 10 or more people working on sustainability full time). Often times, the sustainability team will set the sustainability goals for the company, but almost a quarter of the retailers said they do not have sustainability goals. And in terms of budgeting for sustainability, almost 75% of companies said their budget either stayed the same or increased over the past year.

The leaders are well ahead of the pack

When looking at how the retailers did across all dimensions, it becomes apparent most companies are falling firmly in the "standard" category (or rather a 2 on a 1-5 scale). But the leading companies aren't just one or two steps higher, they are already at the "next practice" level (or a 5 on a 1-5 scale). Looking at all of the dimensions, over half the time the leading company was getting top marks - only in 4 dimensions was the leading retailer at the "excelling" level (or a 3 on a 1-5 scale). Leading companies obviously know what they're doing when it comes to sustainability, so now there needs to be an effort to get everyone else up to their level.

A shift to the supply chain

Overall, the supply chain section was one of the weakest, with many companies falling between the “starting” and “standard" category, but as retailers begin to solidify their internal sustainability, there is a growing focus on supply chain sustainability. Companies have started to engage suppliers about various sustainability issues, such as the need to reduce energy and water.

Looking to start a new sustainability project but need to gain support? Find out ways to gain that support for your new project or idea here!

What Does It Take to Be Environmentally Sustainable in the Retail Sector? - Part 2

May 7, 2015 The SSC Team

By: Alexandra Kueller

T wo weeks ago, we introduced the Retail Industry Leaders Association’s (RILA) brand new Retail Sustainability Management Maturity Matrix. The Matrix hopes to be a tool that will be used by sustainability executives, individual companies, and industry-wide. We also noted that while the Matrix is designed with the retail industry in mind, we think that is has a wide applicability beyond just the retail sector.

Last week, we discussed the first three sectors that are featured in the Matrix. Today we are focusing on the final four of the seven sectors. Hoping to provide a more in-depth look at how RILA hopes to benchmark across the industry in terms of environmental sustainability, we are going to look at what it would take for a company to become a leader in that sector.

Retail Operations

Environmental sustainability extends to all aspects of a company, including their retail operations. Whether it is a store or corporate offices, a company should be putting in effort to make these areas as sustainable as possible, such as having facilities be LEED certified. Other ways to make your retail operations more "green" can include incorporating green standards for all new warehousing and participating in the ENERGY STAR program.

The Retail Operations sector has three different dimensions:

Store/Corporate Offices
Warehouses/DCs
Data Center & Applications

Supply Chain

Supply chain sustainability might not be the first aspect of a company's sustainability plan to come to mind, but it is no less important than any other aspect. To be a leader in the retail industry when it comes to supply chain sustainability, a company must demonstrate the reduction of environmental impact through the optimization of transportation, work closely with suppliers to help improve their sustainability metrics, and be more transparent when it comes to audit statistics (e.g., percent of non-compliant factories).

The Supply Chain sector has three different dimensions:

Transportation/Logistics
Supplier Engagement
Supply Chain Transparency & Traceability

Products

When someone thinks of a retail organization and sustainability, often times their first thought is "how sustainable is the product?" RILA recognizes that product sustainability is a key component in a company's overall environmental sustainability and offers some suggestions on how to be a leader when it comes to making a company's product more sustainable. Some examples are using renewable energy sources during manufacturing, offering take-back services, and designing products with a "cradle to cradle" outlook.

The Products sector has three different dimensions:

Product & Packaging Design and Development
Owned Manufacturing/Production
Product & Packaging End-Of-Life Stewardship

Environmental Issues

And finally, true environmental sustainability cannot happen if a company does not focus on the environmental issues at hand. How a company addresses these issues - energy, waste, recycling, etc. - in the context of the retail sector is telling, and some industry leaders are already paving the way. Some of these companies are implementing leading waste technologies and policies, establishing green chemistry programs that helps reduce toxins, recycling and reusing water, using alternative energies, and more.

The Environmental Issues sector has four different dimensions: