Pessimism and sarcasm for the good cause
Pessimism and sarcasm for the good cause
Welcome to "nouveau monde", a four-handed newsletter to better understand how to make the world better through the lens of retail. This is #59.
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Le menu du jour at nouveau monde is about car and conference BS.
Today's newsletter is 1,423 words, a 7-minutes read (OMG).
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The Nine Commandments of Sustainable Retail according to the NRF “Voice of Retail”
by Phil
The National Retail Federation, aka the NRF, is a very powerful business. Those three letters are quite used in the world, where “R” can mean “resistance”, “redemption'“, or “revolutionary”. Also “research”, but actually, it’s is the world's largest retail trade association.
Before everything, it’s a business. Retailers all over the planet wish to find the missing answer to their problems in the cold Manhattan every January (and it seems that the Covid flu is way behind us now, based on the audience last month). It’s a lobby, it’s a media, and most certainly a very profitable business.
It’s a voice of retail. So when it speaks, shall we listen?
Sustainability is a journey
Every retail role is a sustainability role
Consumers have different sustainability needs
Sustainable retail addresses social issues
Resale retail continues to scale
Sustainable retail requires sustainable suppliers
Collaborating with suppliers is crucial
Sustainable retail requires better data
Retail conferences can be more sustainable
These nine items summarize the result of what has been discussed on the main stages in front of thousands of people, in private invitation-only meetings and on the trade show floor. It represents several key themes emerge when retail executives gather to talk about the future of retail.
Sustainable is a journey or a destination? “The voice of Retail” says it’s a journey, I’m saying it’s a destination. Just look around and tell me there’s no hurry to change things a bit. Shall we wait for all those companies to adjust? No, we don’t have time.
Every retail role is a sustainability role. It’s a group effort, says the “Voice of Retail”. What about stakeholders? What’s their goal, what is your budget? Asking efforts to a group starts by the bottom, the real bottom. We know where dividend are going at the end of the journey. What would be all this energy for? Save the planet, the benefit, or the bottom line of the pay slip.
Consumers have different sustainability needs. My God, really? Are we here to satisfy a niche market, trying to build a new category of consumers? I think we’re talking about defining a new way of using naturel resources and caring of them, sharing this resources for the best of the environment while addressing the capacity of consumers which is more and more limited. People have the sustainable approach their wallet is allowing them to have.
Sustainable retail addresses social issues. Sustainable is about people too. I thought we might agree here, but the explanation which is following in the article is just a way to write something about diversity, an American standard since this country has so much to apologize for. Sustainable is about all of us, environment included.
Resale retail continues to scale.
Of course. People are getting used to it, and they have less and less financial capacities.
Sustainable retail requires sustainable suppliers. “As much as 98% of a retailer’s sustainability impacts are outside its direct control.” A cascade of suppliers of suppliers that we don’t know if. Kind of depressive statement.
Collaborating with suppliers is crucial. No, wait! It’s 98% out of control, but there is a way: we can work together! Looking forward to reading thousands of stories in the news. If you, the reader, has some to share, I’ll be happy to publish them next week.
Sustainable retail requires better data. Data have been poured into the Retail information system at such a level that it’s quite hard for many companies to have a consistant economic validation of all the critical areas of their business. Of course, data must be considered in this sustainable matter. Based on the numerous report I can read here and there, it seems that new standards have been brought on the table to create new business lines for consulting and accounting companies.
“Sustainability data systems are being developed to address specific concerns like human rights, recycled or organic content, carbon footprints and origins of raw materials, but many systems remain proprietary, incomplete and unable or unwilling to share data with other systems.”. “…no system has yet been widely adopted that meets the sustainability needs of retailers.”. What about customers?!
Retail conferences can be more sustainable. Really? I understand you guys want to show good consciousness. My answer is below. How many CO2s in there? For sure, the NRF is definitely profitable. Good for them. But please don’t brag with being more sustainable.
“Sustainability is a societal goal that relates to the ability of people to safely co-exist on Earth over a long time”, says Wikipedia. Print it, put it on a frame, as many as you have an office, a desk, a co-working space.
My apologies for some sarcasms, probably due to the fact I missed the event and the opportunity to hear some BS with my own ears. I just just we talk a lot about it, and I’m not sure Retail really moves fast enough. Even sometimes cares.
Race Car Ya-Yas
by Anthony
Polestar and Rivian, two electric car manufacturers (one in Europe and one in the US) just launched a report about the state of the car industry regarding the Paris Agreement pledges.
And their conclusions are not really optimistic…
Before deep diving to the conclusions, a little focus on the methodology and the assumptions made by Kearney, the consultancy firm behind the report :
First, the report focuses on passenger vehicles, that emits about 15% of the global emissions (as of 2021). More than a half of these 15% today come from the tailpipe of ICE (Internal Combustion Engines) of more than 1 Billion cars over the world. That amount will slightly grow to reach mare than 1,4 Billion cars by 2050.
Another interesting chart is the CO2 emissions comparison between different types of vehicles : BEV (fully electric), HEV (hybrid) and ICE (fully fuel) :
What we learn here is that full electric cars emit less than HEV or ICE, even with a high ratio of coal electricity in numerous countries, and counting the whole life cycle of vehicles. So, if you need to change your car AND need to replace it with another car (I’ll come back to this later), you should definitely switch to a BEV. Another lesson is that large vehicles emit a lot more than small ones, especially when they use gas.
Another key figure : I just fell off my chair when I read that :
OMG! We all knew it but it’s really a shame to read that in 2023 : we could have saved 40% of gas if we didn’t collectively go to SUVs… Too bad.
And yes, it’s too bad as we now face a major challenge and the car industry must change about everything if it wants to achieve its reduction goals. That is :
turn all new cars to electric by 2032
produce fossil-free electricity for the whole mobility industry, fast
drastically reduce supply chains emissions (construction, maintenance…) which relies too much on gas
If we don’t do anything, we will overshoot the target by 75%, oops. We need a massive and quick effort to expect a real decline in car emissions.
And I tend to believe that in addition with efforts to lower (continuously rising) charts, we mostly need to change our minds and rethink our whole mobility : do I really need a new car or am I able to do most of my moves with an alternate option ?
I might be a particular exemple but I try to use my bike a lot more since I recently bought an old used car from 2005. And despite the weather, I cycle a lot more than I used to do AND I LOVE IT. Replace an electric car by an electric bike or even with a muscular one and you really shift the curve.
Rivian certainly understood this as it recently made it clear that they will soon sell their own electric bikes. Is your future car just a bike ? Hope so !
Bonus track by Anthony
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