THE WHAT? The Estee Lauder Companies has unveiled a Responsible Store Design program to provide a framework for the assessment of new and existing retail stores. The initiative is designed to advance progress towards the US prestige beauty giant’s environmental targets.

THE DETAILS The program will inform the design of ELC’s visual merchandising across a variety of sustainability-related areas, including waste reduction, water and energy conservation and responsible sourcing of materials.

Existing and new stores will be assessed for eligibility to participate in the program. So far, six stores have successfully aligned with the framework as part of the fiscal 2023 pilot program.

THE WHY? Al Iannuzzi, Vice President, Sustainability, reveals, “Sustainability has long been part of our corporate strategy and company culture, and our new Responsible Store Design program is a creative and impactful way to showcase ELC’s sustainability commitments to both our employees and our consumers. We’re excited to launch our branded retail sustainability program and look forward to scaling this work beyond our pilot stores to impact retail operations globally in the future.”