The sustainability policy of five leading European retailers

Citation

(2011), "The sustainability policy of five leading European retailers", International Journal of Accounting & Information Management, Vol. 19 No. 2. https://doi.org/10.1108/ijaim.2011.36619baa.013

The sustainability policy of five leading European retailers

Article Type: Abstracts From: International Journal of Accounting and Information Management, Volume 19, Issue 2

Retailers have a pivotal role to play in that they are intermediaries between producers and manufacturers, on the one hand, and customers, on the other. Some authors characterise the retailers’ position as being largely passive while others view the retailers as having a much more active role in driving production and in stimulating customer demand. Retailers are currently looking for measures to address a number of environmental issues including energy consumption and emissions, raw material usage, water consumption, waste, the volume of packaging, recycling, genetically modified foods and the use of chemicals. The development of such measures allows them to chart progress over time and to compare their performance with industry wide standards and government targets.

Sustainability is a concept which deals with the fair allocation of resources on a global scale. Recently, large retailers seem to be increasingly keen to communicate their sustainability commitment to their shareholders, customers and the general public. Retailers believe that long-term economic viability is in the interests of all stakeholders and that by integrating environmental sustainability into their businesses they will be better positioned to provide long-term growth and financial security for those stakeholders and to maintain and enhance their market position.

This paper offers a review of the sustainability agendas being pursued by some of Europe’s leading retailers, since a growing number of such companies seem increasingly keen to communicate their sustainability commitments to their stakeholders. The paper is organized as follows: the insights provided by a review of sustainability reporting are applied to the analysis of environmental policy and performance of five European retail chains. Comparative and chronological tables support the conclusion that there is a long path to sustainability before the most basic consumer products reach the shelves. We focus on retailers’ environmental implication, on retailers’ specific environmental reports and on similarities and disparities between five large retailers. The retailers’ environmental implication represents a great chance for removing barriers in preserving the environment and life-support systems.

Keywords: Retail industry, Sustainability reporting, Environmental indicators, European companies

Claudia-Maria Bobe and Voicu Dan DragomirThe Academy of Economic Studies of Bucharest, Bucharest, Romania