Five new retail companies have joined the “Outdoor Retailer Climate Commitment (ORCC)” climate protection initiative of European outdoor retailers: Sport Schuster, Sport Conrad, Engelhorn, Ellis Brigham Mountain Sports and SportPursuit.
The initiative, founded in September 2021 by the outdoor retailers Bergfreunde, Bergzeit, Internetstores,Sportler and Yonderland, now unites around 10 percent of the European outdoor market. The aim is to work together to achieve the Paris climate protection goals and to actively contribute to limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
Achieve climate protection goals together
In autumn 2021, the initiators committed to measuring their carbon footprint based on the “Greenhouse Gas Protocol Corporate Accounting and Reporting” standard, targets for reducing their emissions based on the Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi) or equivalent Setting goals, taking measures to achieve the climate protection goals set, and submitting a short annual progress report that is made publicly available.
“We believe that working together is essential to address the climate change challenge. The ORCC creates a forum where we can work together with retailers in the industry on new solutions,” explains Adam Pikett, Managing Director of SportPursuit Limited from London, of his reasons for joining the ORCC, in a press release.
Fabian Engelhorn, Managing Director of Engelhorn Sports GmbH in Mannheim, is also certain that the industry must work together on this task: “The most efficient way to achieve our goals is to tackle climate protection together and learn from each other”.
Influencing the entire value chain
Together, the members want to have more influence on the entire value chain of the products they trade and create more attention for the development and supply of sustainable products.
For Hans Conrad, Managing Director of Penzberger Conrad GmbH, the bundling of forces is therefore one of the main advantages of the alliance: “The majority of our emissions are generated during the production and transport of our products and at the end of their life cycle, when they are disposed of. So far, we have only had a moderate influence on these emissions. If we really want to make a difference, we need to join forces and develop industry-wide solutions.”
“By using our collective power and voice, we also want to solve problems that go beyond our actual remit. This means that we take responsibility and deal with the ecological challenges of the industry,” adds Konstantin Rentrop, Managing Director of the Munich Sporthaus Schuster GmbH.
First successes of the members
Around six months after the start of the initiative, the founding members of the ORCC have already taken the first steps: Most members have now drawn up their own climate balance sheet, set specific goals for their emissions reductions and defined measures to achieve them.
“If you want to reduce your own CO2 footprint, you have to know where your own emissions are generated. This is the only way to actively counteract this with concrete reduction targets – and above all to recognize where the greatest leverage lies,” explains Matthias Gebhard, co-managing director at Bergfreunde.
Online shop Bergzeit, for example, has now not only joined SBTi, but also put a 500-kilowatt-peak photovoltaic system into operation to generate more than 500,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity. Validation should be completed by the end of the year.
Outdoor retailerSportler operates a photovoltaic system on the roof of his headquarters with a peak output of 3,000 kilowatts and uses only electricity from renewable energy sources in his shops. The company intends to join the SBT initiative before the end of this year.
At Bergfreunde, the science-based targets were already validated in October 2021 and the company has started to recruit suppliers to participate in the SBT initiative.
ORCC is an open network accessible to any company that is willing to measure its corporate carbon footprint and provide regular transparency.