Green At Work Magazine
Premier Corporate Sustainability Publication
 
NEWS AND INFORMATION
Between Blue and Yellow
Newslines
Corporate Acts
Read On
Green Gateways
GREEN@WORK MAGAZINE
Back Issues
On Our Covers
Feature Stories
Headlines
Special Section
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is an idea that corporations have to consider the interests of customers, employees, shareholders, communities, and ecological considerations in all
Read More >>
Socially responsible investing (SRI) describes an investment strategy which combines the intentions to maximize both financial return and social good.
Read More >>


green@work : Magazine : Back Issues : Nov/Dec 2003 : Lifelines

LIFELINES

Shopping for a Better World
UNEP targets the retail and fashion industries in order to promote "cool" green lifestyles.


From the cat-walk to the consumer, the world’s leading fashion designers and retail giants could play a major role in saving the planet. Whether it is the high-end labels of Prada or Versace or the high-street brands of Carrefour, Monoprix and Marks and Spencer, a growing number of professionals in the fashion and retail business are responding to a latent public demand for ethical and green products.

To support these efforts, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is working on a new initiative, dubbed “Shopping for a Better World,” which aims to influence the $7 trillion global retail industry. At the same time new partnerships with people from the fashion world hope to bring environmental messages to a new and increasingly influential audience.

“Consumers, especially the young, are often confronted with the seemingly contradictory choice of wanting to help the planet and the hedonistic desire to buy the latest ‘must-have’ brands,” said UNEP executive director Klaus Toepfer, speaking in Brussels in June at the opening of the European Commission’s Green Week. “But what can be more modern, more fashionable, than caring about our planet? By working with the retail and fashion industry we can help change attitudes toward consumption, and ultimately people’s actions.”

The new UNEP activities are the latest element of its work to advance the positive sides of sustainable consumption and production. Earlier this year, to encourage more people to embrace so-called sustainable consumerism, UNEP launched a new project that puts an emphasis on marketing “attractive” or “desirable” lifestyles as a key way to sell environmentally friendly products.

“UNEP has stepped up its activities with the retail sector, whose role lies in helping to change unsustainable consumption patterns,” said Toepfer. “We are also starting to work with partners in the fashion industry, in order to show how sustainable lifestyles can be fashionable and ‘cool’ as young people might say.”

One of the first emerging partners in this area is the award-winning Web-based global fashion magazine, Lucire. According to Lucire’s founding publisher, Jack Yan, “Fashion magazines should not only communicate the labels and their offerings, they should also give the industry insight into what’s hot and what’s not. In our joint effort with UNEP, Lucire will champion those who understand sustainability, bringing them the consumer demand that they deserve,” says Yan. “At the same time, we will be able to send a signal back to the fashion industry that this is what today’s society desires.”

With the wider retail sector, UNEP helped to kick-start its “Shopping for a Better World” work when it recently hosted an informal meeting of the retail industry in Paris, France. Ten international retailers and associations were represented—a diverse group involved in food, clothing and other retailing. Participants included Ahold Corporate Communications, British Retail Consortium, Carrefour, Co-op, EuroCommerce, Ito Yokado, Kesko, Monoprix, Prinault Prinetemps-Redoute and Safeway.

As the link between manufacturers and consumers, UNEP believes the retail sector is particularly well placed to help put some aspects of the “cool” green lifestyle initiative into practice.

“On the one hand, the retail sector can influence suppliers to produce in a more sustainable manner—raising questions of resource and energy use for example,” said Toepfer. “On the other hand, the sector is in a unique position to help the public to adopt more environmentally friendly lifestyles and purchasing habits by providing customers with an appropriate choice.”


Home | Magazine | Current News | Media Kit | Contact
Corporate Social Responsibility | Socially Responsible Investing

© 2000-2022 green@work magazine. All rights reserved.
GreenatWorkMag.com