By SkySite Property staff

Fourteen major retail companies have signed a pledge to significantly reduce their energy consumption and environmental impact by 2020. The members of the European Retail Round Table, a consortium of retailers with a customer base of 250 million people, also outlined specific goals to decrease their carbon footprints.

“The battle to win customer loyalty will increasingly be fought not just on value, choice and convenience but on being good neighbours, being active in communities and seizing environmental challenges,” said Sir Terry Leahy, Tesco CEO and ERRT President. “We see our work to improve our energy efficiency and help customers do the same as part of the way to build a successful business in the 21st century.”

The members companies who participated in the summit included Ahold, Asda / Wal-Mart, C & A, Carrefour Group, Delhaize Group, DSG international, El Corte Inglés, H&M, IKEA, Inditex, Kingfisher, Marks & Spencer, Metro Group and Tesco.

Swedish retailing giant IKEA outlined strategies that it would implement to achieve an eventual goal of using 100 percent renewable energy to power all of its buildings. The company hopes to improve its overall energy efficiency by 25 percent by 2020. Individual stores throughout Europe have made strides to become greener. The IKEA store in Spreitenbach, Switzerland, added 4 centimeters of extra insulation to its store and uses solar panels, a pellet furnace and rainwater for the bathrooms as part of its sustainability strategy.

C&A Europe, a fashion retailer with over 1,200 stores in 16 countries, has even more aggressive goals. CEO Lucas Brenninkmeijer said that they are committed to reducing their overall carbon footprint by switching to renewable energy sources. In 2008, 65 percent of the company’s stores, distribution centers, and office space were powered via renewable energy sources.

“We plan to increase this level to up to 80 percent by 2010,” Brenninkmeijer said.

Delhaize Group's Belgian supermarkets and convenience stores have been running on 100 percent renewable energy since January 2007. Their new or remodeled stores, which are powered by hydropower stations in the Alps, serve as laboratories for energy-saving techniques and technologies, such as:

A glass store façade made of semi-transparent, photovoltaic cells, providing power and light simultaneously.

Photovoltaic panels on store roofs.

Using reclaimed heat from refrigerators to warm sanitary water and indoor air.

Mixed truck transportation to maximize the number of stores serviced by a single truck, eliminating over 2 million kilometers of travel.

“Given the fierce, daily competition between these retailers, it is fascinating to note that the linked issues of energy and climate change unite them in a commitment to measurable actions,” said ERRT Director Paul Skehan.