h progress, the proof is the pudding: the market has already been supporting these priorities, Chalmers is just making sure Government is there to lend a helping hand. “Collaboration is just as important as co-investment,” Chalmers wrote in The Monthly. “The private sector is key and central to sustainable growth, and there’s a genuine appetite among so many forward-looking businesspeople and investors for something more aligned with their values, and our national goals.” Nowhere can this be seen more clearly than in the retail sector.  Ahead of the game Even before the Covid-19 pandemic hit its peak, retailers around the world had been making strong inroads in their environmental, social and governance (ESG) aims.  Most retail businesses have now set a net-zero goal, with the Australian Retailers Association’s (ARA) recent announcement of a net-zero educational program sure to help more in the industry make the transition. Some have already hit their net-zero target and are now looking into becoming carbon positive. Businesses like Coles, Woolworths and Ikea are investing heavily in their ESG goals to further position themselves as conscious companies moving forward.  Coles, for example, has unveiled several HR schemes to ensure that its employees are treated as fairly as possible, and get as much support as possible, regardless of their gender, sexuality, disability, or age.  For example, last year, the business started offering staff 10 days of paid gender affirmation leave to help team members who are transitioning to feel comfortable supported in the workplace. It also partnered with RecruitAble to boost employment opportunities for people living with a disability, and Dream Big to enable more female-identifying students to pursue STEAM degrees.  Ikea-owner Ingka Group has been investing into renewable energy for some time, and just this week announced its first investment into an Australian renewable energy farm: a 15 per cent stake in the $2 billion Golden Plains Wind Farm project. No sector is perfect – and retail has been hounded by ongoing underpayments scandals in the last few years – but in my eyes, retail has positioned itself well for the potential reshuffling of economic priorities.  And my hunch is that the strong influence of everyday people on retail operations and product offerings is responsible for that. The customer is always right Despite the fact that data tends to show that customers say they want ethically made, sustainably sourced products, but then still purchase cheaper products when push comes to shove, there is a sense that it’s only a matter of time until conscious consumption becomes the new normal in retail. The fact is that younger generations are leaning more to the left, according to the 2022 Australian Election Study, and are resisting the age-old transition into conservatism. “Younger generations have very different voting patterns to previous generations at the same stage of the lifecycle and are much further to the left in their party preferences,” Report co-author Professor McAllister told The Guardian. Partly, this is driven by generational inequality. One only has to look at wage stagnation over the past decades, and the soaring price of housing over the same period of time, to get a glimpse into a major issue facing young people. Regardless of how hard someone from the Baby Boomer generation worked as a young adult to afford their first home, and how strongly they believe their child could do the same with a bit of elbow grease, the fact remains that many essentials are financially out of reach for many younger people around the world. While many young people feel powerless to solve these problems, they have realised that their voice is louder than ever before, and that the private sector can be swayed by their desires.  In retail, purchases have become more complex than just monetary transactions. While fast fashion is easy on our wallets, we now understand that buying an inexpensive shirt costs more in different ways – it may wear out faster because it is made of inexpensive fibres, and have been made in less-than-ideal conditions. Sometimes, despite the price tag, more expensive and sustainably made items can be better value than a bargain buy.  Customers today are starting to step away from purchasing products that don’t suit their values, where they can afford to, and are instead rewarding businesses that align on the things that matter to them.  Retailers need to win over their customers. Most products in the retail catalogue fall under discretionary spending, and customers are increasingly using that discretion.  From my point of view, most consumers are already supporting values-based capitalism, and retailers are leading the way as a result.