Sustainability in Retail: How Technology is Shaping the Future of Green Commerce

Retailers are under increasing pressure to prioritize sustainability, not just to meet compliance standards but to win the loyalty of eco-conscious customers. Recent research shows 72% of consumers are actively buying more environmentally friendly products than they did five years ago, while 74% of consumers say their environmental concerns influence their purchasing decisions. Customers expect retailers to rise to the occasion when it comes to sustainability. To do so, retailers will need to embrace innovative and sustainable technologies that can help them meet their sustainability goals in the face of complex supply chains, bulky operations and inventory challenges.

There are a few ways in which retailers need to be mindful when it comes to their technology footprint and how choosing the right technologies can help drive sustainability efforts in IT management, operations, compliance and risk mitigation.

With the Trump administration taking office in 2025, the Security Exchange Commission (SEC) effectively abandoned their forthcoming sustainability reporting regulations. But with regulatory requirements like California’s climate disclosure laws and the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), retailers are still facing increased scrutiny around their environmental and social impacts. While CSRD is an EU directive, it extends to all companies operating in the EU, including those with subsidiaries or suppliers in the EU.

For retailers who manufacture their own products, this increased scrutiny demands more transparency around the materials, methods and supply chain impacts associated with the manufacturing process. Retailers who fail to comply risk paying costly fines and even damaging their reputations. But it’s not just about avoiding penalties. Studies are revealing more about the role environmental concerns are playing in consumer decisions. A recent study from 2023 revealed that 50% of millennial shopper, for example, are willing to pay more for sustainable brands. Sustainable impact is now a competitive driver.

With this in mind, ambitious brands like Patagonia use dedicated environmental, social and governance (ESG) technologies to measure the carbon footprint of every product, from sourcing materials to shipping to stores. These kinds of technologies can make navigating compliance challenges easier by providing a centralized dashboard that helps retailers track and consolidate their environmental impact data while identifying reduction opportunities and ensuring reporting aligns with global frameworks.

Pro Tip for Retailers
Work with technology partners who not only provide ESG tools but also guide you in aligning digital strategies with emerging consumer and legal compliance demands.

Energy Conscious Technologies
Opting for energy conscious technologies and solutions is one way retailers can make managing energy impacts in their day-to-day operations a little easier. From energy-rated appliances to Internet of Things (IoT) automation, these technologies can help retailers reduce energy consumption while meeting emissions targets. We see examples of energy-saving technologies in retail applications like motion sensor enabled smart-lighting in the refrigeration and freezer sections of supermarkets. Retailers can install similar sensor technology to automate optimization of lighting, heating and cooling throughout facilities to reduce carbon footprint while cutting energy costs.

Supply Chain
Supply chain impacts are a large contributor to retailers’ energy consumption and carbon footprint, but it’s a bit more complicated to measure and manage. Retailers must get a handle on supply chain management and efficiency to accurately measure the total embodied impact of their operations if they are to reduce their environmental footprint.

In the retail food industry alone, 30-40% of inventory in the U.S. goes to waste. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), U.S. food loss and waste alone produces 170 million metric tons of carbon dioxide a year (equivalent to the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of 42 coal-fired power plants), excluding emissions of food that winds up in our landfills. Eco-conscious applications of technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) and predictive analytics can go a long way in enabling retailers to stock products more efficiently and reduce waste caused by overproduction, transportation and other supply chain activities.

Data Centers and AI
Data centers are critical to any retailer’s daily operations but are also resource intensive and contribute significantly to an organization’s energy consumption and environmental footprint. The wide adoption of AI is putting even more strain on data center resources, significantly increasing that footprint.

To minimize data center and AI impacts, retailers need to consider modernizing energy-hungry IT infrastructures to reduce resource strain and minimize energy drain. Recent data from the Uptime Institute shows that data center optimization can help organizations cut energy consumption by up to 40%, creating both operational savings and greener tech footprints. Of course, there are tradeoffs that come with modernizing as well, including asset disposition, which we’ll address next.

Pro Tip for Retailers
Adopt AI-driven technology for warehouse and inventory forecasting. Accurate predictions reduce waste while keeping your shelves stocked with customer favorites.

Beyond the e-commerce movement, retailers are rapidly digitizing in-store as well to create a unified shopping experience for customers. From interactive kiosks to handheld inventory scanners, radio frequency identification (RFID) technology and customer-facing devices, tech adoption is at the core of the modern retail experience. But what happens when it’s time for a retailer to refresh their self-checkout systems, for instance? Where does all that discarded technology go?

Measuring and managing an organization’s environmental impact includes managing asset lifecycle and technology waste. Discarded electronics like computers, point-of-sale (POS) systems and tablets contribute to the growing e-waste challenge, which now amounts to more than 50 million tons globally each year.

To address this challenge, organizations are looking to IT asset disposition (ITAD) services, which can help retailers manage obsolete devices responsibly. Proper ITAD services can help ensure electronic devices are securely wiped, refurbished, recycled or resold, diverting waste from landfills while safeguarding sensitive customer and business data (another vital compliance). These services can also help maximize the ROI of retired equipment by redeploying or reselling devices through ITAD programs while helping retailers earn buyback credits for future tech investments.

Pro Tip for Retailers
Partnering with expert ITAD providers like CDW can transform upgrades into opportunities to recover value from retired POS terminals while reducing environmental waste. CDW alone has helped process 214,000 pounds of e-waste responsibly since 2022, proving that greener practices and operational efficiency can go hand-in-hand.

Retailers have an opportunity to transform their sustainability efforts through technology, addressing consumer demands while optimizing operations. CDW helps retailers elevate their sustainability efforts with tailored solutions that optimize tech investments while reducing environmental impact.

With expert sustainability advisory services at your fingertips, we help retailers navigate emissions regulations, ESG reporting and decarbonization strategies. Additionally, we offer an array of energy-certified technologies and can even help you responsibly retire and dispose of devices at their end of life.

With years of experience in the retail industry and an extensive partner ecosystem, CDW delivers retail technology strategies you can trust while delivering on sustainability initiatives.