What: A sustainability in retail study produced by the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) found that the retail industry needs to work harder and faster to make a meaningful impact to deliver on climate change commitments.

Why it is important: This study was conducted to reveal that there is a widespread understanding that ‘winning in sustainability is a competitive advantage. However, there seems to be a disconnect between the goals of the retailers and the progress itself.

While 60% of the firms believed their company’s goals were bold and differentiated, more than half had still not set any sustainability KPIs across their businesses to measure progress.

Only a select number of companies have reached the level where they can claim that sustainability is a core company strategy. However, some of the companies are at the “sustainability basics” level which means they are only doing enough to comply with the regulations required and meet the minimum expectations of investors and other stakeholders.

The survey did find that 90% of the survey respondents that are involved in sustainability believe collaboration is key to achieving their goals and targets.

Retailers are lagging on sustainability goals