Aesop – Sustainability Scorecard

Overview:

As global brands face increasing pressure to reduce their environmental impact, a leading luxury cosmetics company sought to improve the sustainability of its retail operations—particularly by understanding and reducing the embodied carbon in its store designs. The goal was to align with corporate decarbonisation and net-zero commitments by embedding sustainability into the design and procurement process.

Responsibility:

From 2021 to 2024, I led the development of a carbon assessment tool that helped a global luxury cosmetics brand embed sustainability into their retail design process. The Sustainability Scorecard calculated embodied carbon and greenhouse gas emissions based on the materials used in store construction. The tool aggregated material, supplier, and design data to produce detailed carbon metrics for each store project. I led the UX and front-end development in alignment with the client’s branding, and collaborated on database and API schema design to support robust data modelling. As the sole consistent team member over three years, I eventually took on the Lead Designer role, ensuring continuity and delivering a scalable, data-driven tool that encouraged best practices in sustainable design through public scoring and gamification features.

Outcome:

The tool empowered architects and store designers to make lower-carbon choices, incentivised sustainable sourcing from local suppliers, and brought transparency to material decisions across global projects. By embedding carbon calculations into the early design process, the tool supported the client’s decarbonisation strategy and contributed directly to reducing the environmental impact of the built environment across their retail footprint.