Why retailers have the greatest leverage for real climate protection
Product ranges made transparent
For retailers, the carbon footprint has long been more than just a key figure in sustainability reports. It is becoming a central control variable for purchasing, product ranges and brand positioning. While energy consumption in stores and emissions from logistics are relatively easy to control, the real lever for effective climate protection lies where retailers make decisions on a daily basis: in their product ranges.
The product range as leverage and responsibility
In retail, over 95% of total emissions are generated by the products sold – i.e. in what are known as Scope 3 emissions. Although these emissions are predominantly generated in upstream supply chains, responsibility for the product range clearly lies with retailers.
Retailers decide:
- which products are listed,
- which suppliers are used,
- which product groups grow or shrink,
- and which alternatives customers find on the shelves.
In this way, they indirectly but effectively control a large proportion of climate-relevant emissions. However, without transparency about the emission impact of individual products, these decisions remain blind. Sustainability then becomes an assumption rather than a measurable control variable.
The reality in retail: complex product ranges, missing data
The challenge is obvious: product ranges consist of thousands of items, different materials, countries of production and supply chains. Retailers are therefore faced with important questions:
- Which products cause particularly high emissions?
- Where is the greatest potential for reductions in the product range?
- Which product range decisions make a measurable contribution to climate targets?
For a long time, analysing large product ranges was considered time-consuming, expensive and inaccurate. Reliable primary data was often lacking, so average values or general assumptions were used. Especially with broad and heterogeneous product ranges, these simplifications led to great uncertainty and thus to limited decision-making ability.
New transparency: a basis for decision-making for retailers
Modern, data-based CO2 analyses are fundamentally changing this situation. Today, even product ranges with over 11,000 products can be evaluated systematically, comparably and scalably.
For retailers, this means in concrete terms:
- Emission drivers in the product range become visible
- Product groups can be compared objectively
- Purchasing and listing decisions can be made based on facts
- Sustainability becomes part of the product range strategy – not just reporting
The decisive difference lies in access to reliable data. CO2 data analysis specialists work with verified emission factors, life cycle information, supplier data and statistically validated models instead of blanket assumptions. This allows emissions to be calculated precisely not only retrospectively, but also simulated with a view to the future – for example, to evaluate supplier changes, material alternatives or product range shifts.
From mandatory reporting to active management
For retailers, transparency in their product range is much more than a prerequisite for regulatory requirements or ESG reports. It is becoming a strategic tool.
Retail companies that understand their product ranges
- make more resilient purchasing decisions,
- reduce risks in the supply chain,
- meet increasing regulatory requirements more efficiently,
- and create credible sustainability for customers, investors and employees.
Sustainability begins on the shelf
Retailers who are serious about reducing their corporate footprint must start where it originates: with the products on the shelf. That is why more and more retail companies are focusing on transparency along the supply chain and demanding reliable CO2 data from their suppliers.
For suppliers, this transparency is increasingly becoming a prerequisite for working with large retail chains. For retailers, on the other hand, it is the basis for combining social expectations, political regulation and economic goals.
A transparent product range transforms complexity into controllability – and sustainability into measurable impact.