(Credit: Pernod Ricard)Pernod Ricard Global Travel Retail (PR GTR) is using a tool to predict the impact of its merchandising projects in an effort to assess the sustainability of its business operations.
The life cycle analysis (LCA) tool is dedicated to retail merchandising and is custom built in a partnership with PIE Factory, a B Corp certified sustainable design consultant. The LCA will allow GTR to assess the environmental impacts in the design of wall bays, gondolas and boutiques, the company says, by analyzing suppliers, the types of materials used, energy use and overall carbon footprint.
The tool will help PR GTR to track data and set targets and then publicly report on the impact of retail projects.
PR GTR began using the tool on all its retail projects beginning in July 2021. The company says that by using the tool on all its developments moving forward that everything within the operations will comply with its carbon reduction goals.
The launch of the tool follows a successful trial at CDFG Haitang Bay in Hainan, where retail elements designed with the tool showed a 20% reduction in their carbon footprint, PR GTR says.
Using tools to help analyze what the carbon and energy impact is of their companies is becoming more common place across a variety of industries.
The UK’s Star Energy released an app that cold-storage companies can use to compare their facilities’ energy use to others and use that information to make adjustments. Tools like artificial intelligence are also being used to help businesses stay on top of their energy use by using smart systems to show where changes can be made, and even cities have platforms at their disposal to help them cut carbon emissions and implement renewable energy.
The LCA tool falls in line with other PR GTR sustainability efforts that include making all packaging recyclable, reusable or compostable by 2025, reducing its carbon footprint by 50% by 2030 and being net zero by 2050, using 100% renewable energy for its facilities by 2025 and cutting water use by 20% by 2030.
