EuroCommerce plus seven national retail associations pledge to accelerate climate action for the Race to Zero

EuroCommerce, the voice for five million retailers, along with national retail associations ANGED (Spain), APED (Portugal), ESEE (Greece) FCD, France Commerce,  (France), POHiD (Poland), and Vakcentrum (Netherlands) announced today during the Sustainable Retail Summit they are pledging to become Accelerators for the Race to Zero. These leading retail associations will join the British Retail Consortium and the Australian Retail Association to drive climate action and support their member retailers in setting out their plans to help limit global warming to 1.5 degrees by 2030.

The Race to Zero 2030 Breakthroughs: Retail Campaign is an initiative backed by the United Nations High Level Climate Champions, founded by Best Buy, H&M Group, Ingka Group (IKEA), Kingfisher plc and Walmart and hosted by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD). The global campaign aims to mobilize retail associations to engage their members and catalyse a net zero breakthrough within the retail industry by 2030.

“In joining the campaign, we hope to encourage retailers and wholesalers to set out their plans to achieve necessary carbon reduction targets by 2030 to help limit the global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees. A recent report by EuroCommerce in partnership with McKinsey shows that retail and wholesale value chains represent 40% of EU emissions, however only 5% of these are in direct control of retailers and wholesalers. Collaboration with supply chain partners and our stakeholders will be key to success in the Race to Zero.” – Christel Delberghe, Director General, EuroCommerce

“With the COP27 climate conference approaching, it is great to see momentum in the implementation of climate action through the Race to Zero Retail Campaign with EuroCommerce and national retail associations ANGED, APED, ESEE, FCD, France Commerce, POHiD, and Vakcentrum all pledging to accelerate the Race to Zero. I encourage all retailers and retail associations to step up climate action and join the Race to Zero.” - Nigel Topping, High-Level Climate Action Champion for COP26 and the UK.

Diane Holdorf, Executive Vice President, World Business Council for Sustainable Development said: “With this groundbreaking announcement, EuroCommerce and the joining member associations will catalyse hundreds of European retailers to take ambitious climate action. The sector increasingly recognizes the financial and operating risks posed by climate change across their supply chains and operations. We invite all retailers to join the UNFCCC’s Race to Zero, with retail associations like EuroCommerce playing a critical role in accelerating the retailing climate transformation.