Last month, RILA’s Environmental Sustainability & Compliance Conference (ESCC) Steering Committee and the committess of the Retail Sustainability Initiative met at RILA’s office in Washington, DC for our April sustainability committee meetings. At the ESCC Steering Committee meeting, executives responsible for environmental sustainability and compliance at leading retailers planned the framework of the educational program for RILA’s annual sustainability conference. One key decision made at this meeting was to define the breakout session tracks, which will be: communications & reporting, environmental compliance, facilities design & energy management and product stewardship.
With 25 attendees from 18 member companies, the RSI meeting was an ideal forum for retailers to discuss top issues affecting retail. Attendees heard from leading environmental NGOs: the World Wildlife Fund presented on value chain impacts of retail and global water issues; the World Resources Institute presented on forest legality and Scope 3 emissions accounting; and the Environmental Defense fund spoke about industry collaboration and the Innovation Exchange. Also presenting to RSI meeting attendees were Kirkland Ellis LLP partners Grant Nakayama and Joe Eisert, who spoke about current priorities at EPA and CPSC. After a morning of insightful presentations, the afternoon was spent on committee meetings, during which RSI’s four committees (Environmental Compliance, Energy & Greenhouse Gas, Product Stewardship, Waste & Recycling) discussed current projects and set goals and priorities for the coming year.
In this issue of RILA Report: Sustainability, Scott Cassel from the Product Stewardship Institute discusses product stewardship legislative proposals across the country and explains the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) Framework legislation. Then, Ruth Kinzey talks about raising your sustainability profile. Next, RILA’s Sarah Walczewski shares information about the benefits of government partner programs. Finally, the legislative update keeps you up to speed on environmental issues on Capitol Hill and the RILA update shares the latest news from RILA.
Best regards,Casey