The NRF Center for Retail Sustainability's initial areas of focus include leveraging consumer insights around sustainability products and practices, facilitating the emergence of the circular economy, and improving supply chain traceability within the retail industry.

“The NRF Center for Retail Sustainability will augment industry sustainability efforts and resources across the retail sector, centralising engagement across the full retail value chain,” NRF president and CEO Matthew Shay said. “Its work will highlight the many ways retailers are making their own operations more sustainable and making it easier for consumers to find high-quality, affordable and more sustainable products.”

Led by NRF vice president of corporate social responsibility and sustainability Scot Case, who will serve as executive director, the Center for Retail Sustainability will be governed by an external advisory board comprised of senior-level sustainability executives, industry partners, academics and other subject matter experts. Additionally, it will leverage existing activities from NRF’s Sustainability Council.

NRF will host an exclusive Sustainable Retail Workshop on 16 January as part of NRF 2024: Retail’s Big Show in New York City. The half-day programme will include a deep dive into important aspects of the circular economy.

Earlier this week the NRF's Global Port Tracker report suggested the inbound cargo volume at the US' major container ports should continue to slow in the final weeks of 2023 after reaching its peak in fall, which was later than expected.