EDF Heads to RILA

By Kate Hanley, Outreach Coordinator, EDF

While retailers have a significant impact on climate, they also have a significant opportunity to reduce carbon emissions within their business and throughout their supply chain. This is why a team from EDF Business will be attending the Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA) Sustainability Conference in Phoenix, AZ from September 19-21.

The conference provides an opportunity for EDF to continue engaging with leading retailers in the US. Retailers have been an important part of our corporate partnerships from our early days of working with McDonald’s and our ongoing work with Walmart.

EDF staff members Jason Mathers and Scott Wood will be at the conference to engage with retailers about our freight and supply chain logistics work and our energy efficiency program EDF Climate Corps, for which we’re currently accepting company applications for 2013.

Climate Corps is EDF’s proven summer fellowship program that places specially-trained MBA and MPA students from top-ranking schools in leading organizations to build the business case for energy efficiency. Since the program began in 2008, EDF Climate Corps fellows have found $1 billion in energy savings at their host organizations, enough to avoid 1 million metric tons of CO2 emissions annually.

Here are few recent examples of the cost and energy savings realized by participating retailers:

• At Target, EDF Climate Corps consulted with the retailer to develop enhancements to Target’s plan to earn the ENERGY STAR for 75 percent of its U.S. buildings and improve energy efficiency in Target stores. These projects have the potential to avoid 50,000 metric tons of CO2 emissions each year and generate several million dollars in annual energy savings.

• At jcpenney, EDF Climate Corps developed a plan to adapt the existing employee program for energy awareness in its retail stores to fit the culture of its headquarter offices. The plan could potentially save $880,000 by the end of 2015, and curb 6,000 metric tons of CO2 emissions each year.

• At REI, EDF Climate Corps proposed lighting solutions and equipment upgrades at the company’s distribution center and headquarters that could save $53,000 and 490 metric tons of CO2 emissions each year.

If you’ll be there, stop by our booth in the exhibition hall to learn more about EDF and our work with leading retailers on sustainability.