Countdown: Leadership and Management Life Cycle Analysis Report

This report examines Countdown's sustainability practices through a life cycle analysis and the application of the quadruple bottom line approach. It highlights Countdown's commitment to reducing plastic pollution and achieving sustainable packaging goals, referencing the company's ambitious sustainability targets and its participation in the Sustainability Accelerator Program. The analysis explores the integration of sustainability into Countdown's operations, focusing on initiatives and the company's corporate social responsibility reports. It also discusses the limitations of the triple bottom line approach in the context of Countdown and the potential benefits of incorporating the quadruple bottom line to include a focus on purpose. The report references specific documents, including Countdown's corporate reports and external publications that provide data and insights into the company's sustainability efforts and management strategies.

Leadership and
Management
Countdown, New Zealand

Life Cycle Thinking
 Life cycle thinking is facilitated to conduct a life cycle analysis of a product or service making
 It encourages the businesses to select the most sustainable option for any of their business
divisions
 This will benefit the worldwide organizations engaged in sustainable practice in terms of
increased reputational and economic benefits (Onat et al., 2017)

The Quadruple Bottom Line
Approach
 The quadruple bottom line
approach gives an addition
of ‘Purpose’ to the triple
bottom line (TBL) approach
 The quadruple bottom line
approach brings the
attention to purpose
towards customers,
employees, suppliers and
community
(Pizzirani et al., 2018)

Life Cycle Thinking in context to
‘Countdown’
 Countdown is now a par of
‘Sustainability
Accelerator Program’
(Inside Retail, 2019)
 Countdown is focused on
reducing the company’s
plastic pollution impact
(Inside Retail, 2019)
 Countdown pledged to attain
100 percent recyclable,
reusable or compostable
packaging specifically in its
own brands (Inside Retail,
2019)

The Quadruple Bottom Line
Approach in context to ‘Countdown’
 Countdown in its latest Corporate Responsibility Report signaled an ambitious
sustainability focus for 2020 (Countdown, 2019)
 This report has 20 new commitments in regards to sustainable practices
(Countdown, 2019)
 However, the ambitious plan does not include the ‘Purpose’, which with the triple
bottom line approach makes up the quadruple bottom line approach (Countdown,
2019)

References
 Countdown. (2019). Countdown sets 20 ambitious new sustainability targets -
Countdown. Retrieved from https://www.countdown.co.nz/news-and-media-
releases/2017/november/countdown-sets-20-ambitious-new-sustainability-
targets
 Inside Retail. (2019). Countdown supports sustainability accelerator program -
Inside Retail. Retrieved from https://insideretail.co.nz/2018/08/08/countdown-
supports-sustainability-accelerator-program/
 Onat, N., Kucukvar, M., Halog, A., & Cloutier, S. (2017). Systems thinking for life
cycle sustainability assessment: A review of recent developments, applications,
and future perspectives. Sustainability, 9(5), 706.
 Pizzirani, S., McLaren, S. J., Forster, M. E., Pohatu, P., Porou, T. T. W., &
Warmenhoven, T. A. (2018). The distinctive recognition of culture within LCSA:
realising the quadruple bottom line. The International Journal of Life Cycle
Assessment, 23(3), 663-682.