Sustainability: After the buy button, 2020

Whether one traces it back to the “skolstrejk för klimatet” of teenage activist Greta Thunberg, the disruptive urban protests of Extinction Rebellion or the pent-up impact of years of scientists’ warnings, the last year has seen man-made climate change rapidly move up the agenda.

Increasing scrutiny is being placed on the effect of pollution on air quality, particularly with an increasing proportion of the global population migrating to urban areas. Meanwhile, the destructive role of plastic on the Earth’s ecosystem and particularly the oceans is being exposed. These issues fall under the aegis of what is called ‘sustainability’. For businesses, this means operating in ways that can continue indefinitely by avoiding depleting finite resources or polluting the natural environment.

This eDelivery report will look at delivery emissions and plastic waste and what retailers in our coverage areas of the UK and Europe can do to reduce them. This is especially vital when consumers profess concern about the environment, but give little evidence they are willing to pay more to mitigate it or change their online shopping habits.

This report will focus on the post-purchase part of retail:

• Impact of logistics and delivery on carbon emissions
• Impact of packaging on plastic waste
• Which companies are “grasping the nettle”
• How different stages of the post-purchase journey can be made more sustainable
• Shipping and the final mile - What will replace the diesel engine?