A report conducted by the BRC has found that retailers across the country have reduced their collective carbon footprints by 36 per cent, while at the same time managing to recycle and compost 98 per cent of all waste, rather than dumping it in landfill sites.

This follows on from an initiative that began almost 15 years ago in an attempt to encourage businesses in the retail sector to go green and make sustainable changes to their operations, according to Internet Retailing.

What is perhaps most impressive about this announcement is that the reductions have been achieved more than a year ahead of the original intended deadline.

Various sections of the retail market have taken different approaches to reducing emissions. Supermarkets have more than halved the carbon footprint associated with keeping food products cool, for example.

Report spokesperson Helen Dickinson said that with the climate crisis being faced by the planet at the moment, these changes and improvements are not just positive in isolation, but essential as a means of ensuring the long term survival of humanity as a whole.

In the context of safe shopping online, e-commerce giant Amazon confirmed that it will be rolling out a number of new schemes which will generate clean, green energy to help power its services. Close to home there are plans for a wind-fuelled power solution in Ireland, while in the US it will be commissioning further solar-based services.

A spokesperson for the company said that it was only through investing in renewable energy sources that it would be possible to bring down Amazon’s vast carbon footprint around the world. It is not just responsible for billions of home deliveries each year, but also operates power-hungry data centres that are harnessed by myriad other businesses.