Innovative and Practical Steps by Asia’s First Green Retailer to Lower Carbon Emissions

As global warming becomes increasingly severe, Pacific SOGO Department Stores embarked on a Green Retailer Project to instill environmental protection awareness among its customers, employees, suppliers, and the general public through its marketing expertise and sales venue platform.

SOGO used the key elements which includes green marketing, low-carbon education, and energy resource integration to divide the Green Retailer project into four main phases:

Green Retailer 1.0:
  • Be the first department store retailer in Asia to obtain the first “Carbon Label” certificate
Green Retailer 2.0:
  • Issue the first low-carbon department store drawing books, creating “small low-carbon journeys” in the department stores for schoolchildren, and organising low-carbon markets and seminars.
Green Retailer 3.0:
  • Be the first department store retailer in Asia to introduce the “ISO50001 Energy Management System” in Taiwan.
  • Establish an Energy Management Committee to formulate energy policies.
  • Implement energy conservation and carbon emissions reduction in all departments of the Company to reduce resource consumption.
  • Set up areas for green products in 8 branch stores in Taiwan to encourage consumers to adopt a green lifestyle.
Green Retailer 4.0:
  • Be the first department store retailer in Asia to obtain the first “Carbon Reduction Label” certificate.
  • Promote circular economy and cooperate with the charity platform “GIVE543 gift network”.
The Green Retailer Project integrated stakeholders such as brands, suppliers, customers, employees, and communities to jointly create a green department store, and achieved the following results:
  • The first in the industry to obtain the “Carbon Label”, “Carbon Reduction Label”, “ISO50001 Energy Management System” and “ISO 14064-1 Greenhouse gas inventory” certifications.
  • Launched the “Department Store Retail PCR” and enabled 800,000 companies in Taiwan to use SOGO’s PCR to calculate carbon emissions.
  • With energy-saving facilities, Tianmu Store reduced its carbon emissions by more than 24 % in 3 years, which was 8 times the amount required by law.
  • SOGO reduced public electricity consumption by 7.7 million kWh (7.2%) over 2 years and saved US $1.1 million (12.8%) in electricity bills.
  • In 2018, SOGO sold more than 130,000 green products in Taiwan.
In an era where department stores around the world are pressured by low margins, SOGO firmly believes that energy conservation and carbon emissions reduction are the best investment. SOGO invested NT$25.1 million in 2018 and NT$24.7 million in 2019, totaling close to NT$50 million in two years, in optimising energy-saving equipment. Their progress in energy efficiency cannot be slowed. The Company has committed to further reduce 2% of carbon starting from 2023. SOGO currently promotes the