Retail stores are amongst the building typologies with the highest carbon (CI) and energy intensities (EI). However, previous studies have only explored the EI of food and non-food retailers. This study is the first of its kind to examine the link between CI and EI. Establishing the nature of this link will allow a deeper understanding of how to decarbonize the retail sector. Here, we hypothesised whether in retail low EI correlated with low CI and how corporate revenue affected these variables. "Best practice" and "conventional practice" benchmarks were then developed to assess retail buildings' sustainability. These represent missing and highly desirable tools in retail sustainable management. Average EI and CI of food retailers were twice that of non-food retailers (EI-548 vs 238 kWh/m 2 /y; CI266 vs 132 kg CO₂eq/m 2 /y). The correlation found between EI and CI indicates that low energy consumption leads to low greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. CI variability resulted mostly of energyefficiency strategies, of the energy production process and of GHG emissions from refrigeration systems. EI variability resulted mostly from store typology, volume and usage. The proposed benchmarks help to set energy and carbon reference performance levels in retail buildings and to stimulate best sustainable practice amongst retailers.

The retail industry is one of the top 10 most carbon-intensive sectors. This paper is original in addressing what has changed in corporate retail with the Paris Agreement, accessing trends to decarbonize the sector. A qualitative comparison was performed regarding the policy, strategy and energy-related building solutions of the top 27 global retailers, ranked according to their revenue, regarding the reporting periods of 2014-2015 and 2016-2017. For each retailer, data were searched on retailers' sustainability reports was organized in different tables according to the variables policy, strategy and energy-related building practice. A comparison analysis was carried out, in order to identify differentiating decarbonizing measures. Corporate governance is increasingly relevant to manage climate change issues. Strategies to decarbonize the retail sector include establishing ambitious energy goals, invest in sustainability of supply chain with more efficient logistics and in greener retail operations, with buildings designed and managed under a life-cycle perspective (energy-efficiency, renewable energy and natural refrigerants). Retailers are progressively aligning their energy targets to those of the Paris Agreement and converging in business principles and reporting standards. With forthcoming regulation on GHG emissions, retailers could benefit from a business case on lowcarbon opportunities and financial incentives to accelerate low-carbon transition investments.

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This data article presents data collected from the 250 highest revenue retailers around the world, assessed according to publicly available data from the fiscal year 2016, in order to determine retailer׳s overall carbon intensity (CI) and energy intensity (EI). Data collection included additional variables such as retailers’ revenue rank, operational typology, number of stores, store sales area and number of workers. Based on this dataset, CI and EI benchmarks were calculated for food and non-food retailers, applying the statistic function first quartile (Q1) for the best practice, second (Q2) and third (Q3) quartiles for conventional practice and fourth quartile (Q4) for worst practice and correlations were tested between the variables "EI", "CI" and "retailer revenue", applying the statistic function CORREL (Ferreira et al., In press) [1]. Finally, a cluster analysis was performed for food and non-food retailers, to identify possible segmentation patterns between the variables “EI”, “CI” and “retailer revenue”. The information provided in this data article is useful for furthering research developments on the influence of isolated variables on retail EI and CI and in assisting retailers, architects, engineers, and policy makers in establishing optimal energy performance goals for the design and operation of retail stores. For further data interpretation and discussion, see the article “Combined carbon and energy intensity benchmarks for sustainable retail stores” (Ferreira et al., In press), of the same authors.

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