Kathleen McLaughlin and Fisk Johnson are the first recipients of RCC's Sustainable Leaders of the Year Award, presented at RCC's Retail Sustainability Excellence Awards on October 28.

TORONTO, Sept. 15, 2026 /CNW/ -- Retail Council of Canada (RCC) proudly announces Kathleen McLaughlin, Executive Vice President and Chief Sustainability Officer, Walmart Inc., and Fisk Johnson, Chairman and CEO, SC Johnson, as the first-ever recipients of the Sustainable Leaders of the Year Award.

The award recognizes leaders who have advanced measurable environmental progress across the retail value chain, from supply chain transformation and product innovation to public health and environmental impact. McLaughlin and Johnson have each developed sustainability strategies that have influenced how their organizations operate and helped advance the broader conversation around sustainability in retail.

Kathleen McLaughlin leads sustainability strategy for Walmart Inc. across jobs, sourcing, supply chain, and community resilience. Under her leadership, Walmart engaged more than 5,900 suppliers through Project Gigaton, an initiative to cut a gigaton of greenhouse gases from product value chains by 2030. Walmart hit that target in 2024, six years ahead of schedule. McLaughlin chairs the Walmart Foundation Board and spent more than a decade as its president, building philanthropic programs that scale alongside the business. She sits on the boards of the World Wildlife Fund and World Resources Institute. In 2026, the NRF Foundation named her to its List of People Shaping Retail's Future, and Sustainability Magazine ranked her first on its Top 250 Women in Sustainability list. Before Walmart, she spent more than 20 years at McKinsey & Company, where she led its Retail Practice.

Fisk Johnson has served as Chairman and CEO of SC Johnson since 2004, after joining the company in 1987. Trained in science and business, Johnson pushes for practical paths forward on plastic waste reduction, renewable energy, carbon reduction, green chemistry, and ingredient transparency. He has advocated for stronger plastic regulation, including Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) policy to improve recycling infrastructure, and testified before the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works on EPR for consumer packaging in March 2024. He backs an ambitious global treaty to end plastic pollution, now under negotiation among more than 170 countries. Johnson and SC Johnson have won numerous awards for environmental leadership, including the Presidential Green Chemistry Award and the EPA's Lifetime Atmospheric Achievement Award. In 2023, the United Nations Foundation honoured him with its Leadership for a Better World Award.

"This is the first time we have presented this award, and we set the bar high," said Kim Furlong, President & CEO of Retail Council of Canada. "Kathleen McLaughlin turned an ambitious climate commitment into measurable results across thousands of suppliers. Fisk Johnson has brought SC Johnson's work on plastic waste and chemical transparency into the policy arena. Both demonstrate the kind of leadership that can translate sustainability commitments into meaningful action and help move the retail industry forward. Retail Council of Canada is proud to recognize them as the inaugural Sustainable Leaders of the Year."

Category Award Finalists

RCC will also recognize 60 finalists across ten Retail Sustainability Excellence Award categories at the October 28 gala. This year's finalists include:

Back-of-Store Circularity and Operational Waste Diversion or Reduction

• Ben & Florentine
• IKEA Canada Limited Partnership
• Savers Value Village
• Sobeys Inc.

Community Impact

• Goodwill Industries Ontario Great Lakes
• IKEA Canada Limited Partnership
• Keurig Dr Pepper Canada
• L'Oréal Canada
• Procter & Gamble, Inc.
• TELUS Communications Inc.

Data, Transparency and Traceability Innovation

• Henkel Canada Corporation
• Kruger Products Inc.
• La-Z-Boy Inc
• Sobeys Inc.

Energy and Facilities Decarbonization Impact

• Bimbo Canada
• Canada Goose
• Federated Co-operatives Limited
• Gay Lea Foods
• Kruger Products Inc.
• L'Oréal Canada
• Royal Bank of Canada
• Sobeys Inc.

Innovative Sustainable Product and Packaging Design

• Accu-Label
• Burnbrae Farms
• Cascades
• Danone Canada
• Duracell Canada
• Imbox Protection Canada
• Kruger Products Inc.
• Procter & Gamble, Inc.

Low-Carbon Logistics and Fleet Transition

• Duracell Canada
• IKEA Canada Limited Partnership
• Lactalis Canada
• L'Oréal Canada
• Tim Hortons

PRO Excellence: Most Improved Recycling Performance and Transparency

• Alberta Beverage Container Recycling Corporation (ABCRC)
• Call2Recycle Canada
• Circular Materials
• Éco Entreprises Québec
• Encorp Pacific (Canada)
• GoRecycle Canada Inc
• Recycle BC

Recycled Content Adoption

• Canadian Tire Corporation
• EFS-plastics
• Cascades
• Holt Renfrew
• Roots Corporation
• Reynolds Consumer Products Canada Inc.
• Tim Hortons

Reuse, Refill and Take-Back Program

• IKEA Canada Limited Partnership
• Longo's Brothers Fruit Market
• L'Oréal Canada
• Sleep Country Canada
• Soles4Souls Canada
• Staples Canada
• TELUS Communications Inc.

Supply Chain Impact

• Bel Group Canada
• L'Oréal Canada
• Mondelez Canada
• Restaurant Brands International (RBI)

The full list of finalists and their initiatives is available at rccretailsustainability.ca/finalists.

About the Retail Sustainability Excellence Awards

The Sustainable Leader of the Year Award and the Retail Sustainability Excellence Awards will be presented on October 28, following RCC's Retail Sustainability Conference. Tickets are available at rccretailsustainability.ca/buy-tickets. 

About Retail Council of Canada

Retail is Canada's largest private-sector employer with over 2.3 million Canadians working in our industry. This sector is a major economic contributor, generating more than $101 billion annually in wages and employee benefits. In 2025, core retail sales (excluding vehicles and gasoline) exceeded $532 billion. Retail Council of Canada (RCC) members account for more than two thirds of these core retail sales and 95 per cent of the grocery market. Our membership extends across the country, embracing over 65,000 storefronts in diverse formats such as department, grocery, specialty, discount, independent retailers, online merchants, and quick service restaurants. As the Voice of Retail™ in Canada, RCC, a not-for-profit, industry-funded association, proudly represents retail businesses of all sizes, from small independents to large national chains, in communities nationwide. retailcouncil.org.

SOURCE Retail Council of Canada