Eunomia worked with Asian-inspired food retail and grocery brand itsu to identify robust decarbonisation actions, building on the company’s previous steps to improve energy efficiency and reduce carbon emissions from its operations.[1]
We began by holding a series of discovery workshops across itsu’s corporate baseline and business functions – grocery, retail, and new product development – to make sure we thoroughly understood the business, its level of decarbonisation ambition, and its progress to date.
We then created a list of long-term decarbonisation levers, drawing on our expertise in the food and beverage sector and research into best practice, academic literature, and competitor activities. We tested these levers with internal stakeholders through a series of workshops to understand the feasibility of integrating them with itsu’s current practices.
We then refined the long list of decarbonisation levers and categorised each according to high or low priority, direct or potential emissions reduction, and where it might influence economy-wide decarbonisation. We worked out the timeline for implementing each lever, as well as the risks and relative costs, key performance indicators, follow-on actions, dependencies, co-benefits, and responsibilities.
We also developed a briefing note explaining the principles of carbon offsetting, along with recommended standards, costs, and challenges, and delivered a follow-up workshop to help itsu refine their decisions.
Finally, Eunomia designed an action plan for itsu. This flagged the need for enabling measures: ensuring people are empowered to implement the levers, making finance available where necessary, and identifying where decarbonisation activities can create value that aligns with itsu’s overall business strategy.
Our exploratory study laid strong foundations for action on decarbonisation. It helped itsu to begin considering options and define its ambitions. It upskilled staff in terminology and carbon concepts, built their enthusiasm for action, and equipped them with the information to start dialogue with suppliers. Eunomia’s action plan set out clear, practical steps to accelerate itsu’s journey towards sustainability.
[1] Itsu Sustainability Milestones. Available at: https://www.itsu.com/sustainability-sourcing/sustainability-milestones/