The Retail Energy Forum (REF) is a collection of leading UK Retailers with a combined £1.7bn annual energy spend across 30,000 properties. REF’s aim is: “to share best practices to reduce the carbon footprint of every member company”.
REF was formed in 2006 and has worked closely with the government in the development of energy policies to support the UK’s transition to a low-carbon economy.
REF concentrates on sharing practical measures that result in real and measurable energy and carbon reduction.
Applications from UK-based retailers to join REF are welcome.
Together, We Achieve More
Collaboration sits at the heart of our network. When members come together, they share knowledge, exchange experience, and pool resources—saving time and avoiding repeated mistakes.
To make collaboration simple and effective, members have access to:
Because alone, progress is slow. Together, it accelerates.
Three steps to joining
All forums are for highly experienced in-house energy & sustainability practitioners who are serious about decarbonising their businesses, passionate in their field, and eager to support the UK’s Net Zero ambitions. All forums have limited capacity and eligibility criteria.
The Retail Energy Forum (REF), formed in 2006, supports large UK multi-site Retailers.
The Tech, Media and Telecom forum (TMT), formed in 2019, supports Europe’s largest Tech, Telecom, and Media organisations.
The Sustainable Logistics Forum (SLF), formed in 2020, supports leading UK supply chains; both Retailers and 3PLs.
The Operational Sustainability Forum (OSiF), formed in 2021, supports leading Financial organisations.
The Retail USA Forum is in the start up stage. The ambition is to enable US Retailer collaboration and greater collaboration with UK peers.
The Airport Sustainability Forum (ASF), formed in 2023, supports leading Aviation Organisations and Airport Operators.
The Leader’s forum is an invite only collaboration forum for Sustainability/Energy Management Leaders.
The EnergyClub.org is a free online collaboration forum for sustainability/energy people in SMEs.
All forums (except Energy Club) meet quarterly, attend confidential year-round workshops, have limited capacity, an eligibility criteria and pay an annual fee, which varies by forum of between £2,000 and £5000 p/a per organisation.
Each organisation may send 2 representatives to in-person meetings. For online workshops representative attendance by organisation is unlimited.
Everyone needs to learn something new; everyone is the teacher; everyone is a student and for that reason all forums contain people and organisations who have familiar challenges and objectives that will resonate with the attendees.
Member organisations should be medium or large UK based and have a publicly disclosed environmental target (Carbon Emissions/NetZero) with a clear plan and motivation to achieve it.
We do not accept third party consultants as members, only in house employed energy or sustainability practitioners.
Simply submit your name and email haydn.young@rutlandpower.com we’ll be in touch.
New members will require the approval of the existing membership and some groups may ask for additional criteria to be met before acceptance. Furthermore, all groups have a membership capacity. We will support this process on behalf of all new applicants.
