A look at building the sustainable enterprise at Macy’s

Back in May, I had the opportunity to sit in on a roundtable discussion on sustainability at the American Supply Chain Summit. It was a lively conversation among sustainability executives, led by Keelin Evans, Macy’s vice president of sustainability. It was clear that sustainability has become integral to supply chain management. For her part, Evans’ message was that sustainability is one of the pillars of Macy’s modernization as the department store leader reinvents its models and processes to build a sustainable business.

That holistic approach is different than the conventional focus on reducing CO2 emissions, carbon footprint and the amount of waste that goes to the landfill, strategies we associate with being sustainable. It also highlights that sustainability is a broad term these days, one that is interpreted differently at every organization, depending on their vertical and how they go to market.

For instance, a starting point for many beverage companies is water usage, a critical but precious resource used in production, while logistics companies often begin their focus by reducing the miles traveled, minimizing the use of diesel or adding alternative fuels into the mix and piloting electric vehicles. How then does a major retailer like Macy’s define sustainability, and what are the levers it is pulling to meet its goals?

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