Our new report ‘Retail Leadership’, released today, shows how supermarkets and other major retailers are pressing ahead with green business practices despite the threat of recession.

Retailers have a vital role to play in building a sustainable, low-carbon economy. They can drive far-reaching change up and down their supply chains, supporting local economic development and helping suppliers operate in ways which have less impact on the environment and do more to benefit communities. They can also help hundreds of millions of customers to make straightforward, affordable and more sustainable choices.

Eco-efficiencies – making savings by reducing energy use, packaging and waste – directly support the cost-cutting which retailers and consumers look for in a downturn. By sharing lorries to make more efficient deliveries Tesco and Unilever have saved more than half a million “empty” miles.

Consumers’ growing demands for greener, healthier, more ethical products have made them a critical part of brand positioning and a driver for new product and service innovations. Sainsbury’s has seen a 60% rise in sales of higher-welfare chicken since 2007 and is adding lines to meet growing demand. In the Kingfisher Group, which sponsored the report, Castorama has rolled out more than 2,000 “eco-products”.

And recession or not, in the long term successful retailers will be those who have robust strategies in place to deal with the rising cost of oil and commodities, who support suppliers in drought-prone and water-scarce areas, and who work to make sustainable products more available and affordable to their customers. We hope this report will help all retail businesses be part of that change.

“Can we shop our way to sustainability?” was the topic for a lively seminar Forum for the Future held last Monday evening.

"Yes - under certain conditions" came the answer from the majority of our panel: Lord Adair Turner, the new Chairman of the Government’s Committee on Climate Change; Lucy Siegle from the Observer; and Lucy Neville-Rolfe from Tesco.

Environmental guru Roger Levett was more doubtful – a view shared by the delegates. Just 29 per cent answered “yes” to the question in our snap entry poll; support fell to 22 per cent in a post-event survey. So what persuaded our attendees – 100 thinkers from industry, academia and NGOs – that something more complex is required?

The solutions to sustainable consumption are clearly not as simple as our poll question implied. Widespread agreement emerged on the range of changes needed: better information to empower consumers; careful framing of the alternatives in supermarkets; and removing the most unsustainable products - "choice editing" – altogether from the shelves.

So what are the barriers to making sustainable consumption a reality today? How can we change consumer behaviour effectively? And what might be the ideal consumer products of the future? See our summary of the evening for further details.