Environmental advocacy group Stand.earth accused the Vancouver-based apparel company of greenwashing in a “first-of-its-kind complaint” submitted to the French Directorate General for Competition Policy, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Control (DGCCRF) days before the Olympics Games opening ceremony in Paris.

Stand.earth has called on the French regulator to investigate Lululemon’s “vague, disproportionate and ambiguous” environmental claims which, the green group said, constitute misleading commercial practices. In response, the company told Climate Home its publicity does not misrepresent its operations.

Through its “Be Planet” campaign unveiled in 2020, Lululemon tells customers that its “products and actions avoid environmental harm and contribute to restoring a healthy planet”.

A screengrab from Lululemon’s sustainability webpage

But the company’s latest impact report shows that emissions from Lululemon’s full supply chain – known as Scope 3 – nearly doubled to 1.2 million tonnes of carbon dioxide between the campaign’s launch and 2022. That’s equivalent to powering 300,000 gasoline cars for a year.

Stand.earth’s complaint said Lululemon’s emissions are set to grow even further as it tries to hit a goal of doubling sales by 2026.

“Lululemon customers worldwide deserve to know the true impacts of the company’s climate pollution, not the greenwashed version it uses to sell products,” said Stand.earth Executive Director Todd Paglia.

UAE’s ALTÉRRA invests in fund backing fossil gas despite “climate solutions” pledge

Earlier this year, Stand.earth filed a similar complaint against Lululemon in Canada that resulted in the country’s Competition Bureau opening a formal investigation into the retailer’s use of environmental claims. A separate complaint accusing Lululemon of greenwashing was brought in early July this year by a private citizen in the US District Court for the Southern District of Florida.

A spokesperson for Lululemon said that Be Planet “is not a marketing campaign” but “a pillar” of the company’s impact strategy, and that the firm is confident the statements it makes to the public accurately reflect its impact goals and commitments.

“We are taking direct action and are committed to collaborating with industry partners to help address supply chain impacts on climate change,” the spokesperson added. “We welcome dialogue and remain focused on driving progress.”

Rising revenues, rising emissions

Lululemon is one of the world’s fastest-growing retailers of athletic apparel, with net revenues rising 19% to $9.6 billion in 2023. The company, which has more than 700 stores in 20 countries, is the official clothing provider for Team Canada at the Olympic Games whose opening ceremony takes place in Paris this Friday.

According to the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the Paris 2024 Games are targeting a 50 percent reduction in carbon emissions compared to the average of the London Olympics in 2012 and Rio de Janeiro in 2016, including Scope 3 emissions such as from spectator travel. This means Paris 2024 will offer the first Olympic Games aligned with the Paris Agreement on climate change, the IOC says.

View of Lululemon name above its retail store in the SoHo neighborhood of Manhattan, New York, NY, August 2, 2023. (Photo by Anthony Behar/Sipa USA)

Lululemon, meanwhile, has committed to reaching net zero emissions across its supply chain by 2050 through a target validated by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), widely seen as the gold standard in corporate accountability.

But the company has come under intense criticism from green advocates over its climate and environmental impacts caused by energy-intensive production, high consumption of natural resources like water and long-distance shipping of items around the globe.

Four-fifths of Lululemon’s manufacturers in 2022 were located in countries that are highly-dependent on fossil fuels like Vietnam, Cambodia, Sri Lanka and Indonesia. The materials most commonly used by Lululemon in its clothes – polyester and nylon – are themselves produced from fossil fuels, according to the Stand.earth complaint.

EU greenwashing crackdown

The environmental group said the case will mark the first test of the French regulator’s readiness for a wave of new European greenwashing legislation.

The European Parliament approved a new directive in January requiring member states to introduce stricter rules surrounding the use of sustainability claims by companies and banning certain practices.

European lawmakers are currently working on a further piece of legislation that aims to define what kind of information companies must provide to justify their green marketing in the future. In its current form, the proposed regulation would require sustainability claims to be based on scientific evidence and checked by an independent and accredited verifier.

A global wealth tax is needed to help fund a just green transition

The so-called “Green Claims” directive is currently going through a negotiation process between the European Parliament and the European Council – which brings together EU leaders – before a final text is agreed.

“For decades, companies have faced no consequences for deceptive practices aimed at misleading the public about their environmental and climate justice impacts,” said Stand.earth’s Paglia. “However, we’re now seeing a rising interest in holding these companies accountable for their claims, and a crackdown is beginning to happen from Europe to North America.”

(Reporting by Matteo Civillini; editing by Megan Rowling)

The post Canada’s Olympics kit provider hit with greenwashing complaint in France appeared first on Climate Home News.

(Pic: John Lewis)

The John Lewis Partnership (JLP) is the latest UK retailer to commit to reducing carbon emissions by switching to renewable energy.

More than 380 stores as part of the JLP, which includes Waitrose supermarkets and John Lewis sites, will be supplied with 100% renewable electricity by energy supplier SmartestEnergy starting January 2015.

Nigel Keen, director of property services for the John Lewis Partnership, said in a statement that this will help in cutting emissions across its supply chain.

“As a responsible retailer, the Partnership aims to source sustainably across its supply chains and this agreement provides us with full transparency over where our energy is coming from.

“Working with SmartestEnergy means we can support independent renewable generators and contribute to progress towards the UK’s target for 15% of energy demand to be met from renewable sources by 2020.”

Under the agreement, electricity will be purchased from independent generation projects, including a wind turbine at family-run Dewlay Cheesemakers in Lancashire; the Rainbarrow Farm anaerobic digestion project in Dorset and the Udny Community Turbine in Aberdeenshire.

Robert Groves, CEO at SmartestEnergy, said this was his company’s biggest contract to date.

“This agreement is good news for the growing number of independent renewable generators in the UK as continued expansion in demand for green energy ensures they have a route to market for their power.”

Targets

John Lewis has set itself a goal to reduce carbon emissions by 15% by 2020 based on 2010 emissions.

In a recent interview, Toby Marlow, general manager of sustainable development at the John Lewis Partnership said the principle major taken by the Partnership has been to improve its refrigeration system.

“We think leaked refrigerants is a big no-no, so we’ve stepped out the traditional refrigeration systems and developed our own system. We designed the system so that the heat ejected from the refrigeration cases now heats the sales floor space. That has reduced our gas consumption by around 70% per store.”

Waitrose was recently commended by the London-based European Investigation Agency in turning away from refrigeration units which use potent greenhouse gases known as HFCs, or hydrofluorocarbons.

JLP will be able to deliver its carbon mitigating plan using both renewable electricity and energy efficiency measures, Marlow said.

“We’re currently looking at photovoltaics and we’ve also looked at ground source heat pumps and biofuel-driven CHP. The flip side of that is that we need to make sure that we are financially sustainable as well.

“So the renewable solutions have to achieve the same return on investment that energy efficiency projects do. If I had a million pounds to spend on photovolataics or LED lighting, I’d choose LED lighting because that gives me a better return on investment.”

Trend-setting

JLP joins other retailers like supermarket chain Sainsbury’s which is Europe’s largest rooftop solar operator.

Retailer Marks and Spencer topped UK-based carbon management firm Carbon Clear’s ranking of the carbon performance of the FTSE 100.

The top 10 performers were Marks and Spencer, BT Group, National Grid, Aviva, Unilever, Reed Elsevier, TUI Travel, Sainsbury’s, BSkyB, British Land, Barclays, Whitbread and HSBC.

Not to be outdone, on the other side of the pond, Walmart topped the US Solar Energy Indistry Association’s 2013 solar capacity rankings with 89.43MW installed capacity.

The research revealed that the 25 companies, including Apple and IKEA, with the highest total solar capacity as of August 2013 have deployed more than 445MW at over 950 different facilities, enough to power 73,400 American homes.

The post John Lewis switches to 100% renewable energy appeared first on Climate Home News.

Source: Close the Door

By Sophie Yeo

The weather outside will be slightly less frightful this year along the UK’s main shopping streets if environmentally irresponsible retailers have their way.

Many of the biggest high street shops pump out heat at the same time as they let in the cold by keeping their doors wide open despite freezing outside temperatures, fuelling the Christmas feast of carbon dioxide emissions.

Over 120 chain stores operating 20,000 stores within the UK operate an open door policy. Offenders include shops such as Lush and the Body Shop, which brand themselves as environmentally responsible companies, as well as Monsoon, Next and Miss Selfridge.

Many give the reason that an open door policy encourages more customers to come into the store, but campaign group Close the Door say that shops’ internal research has shown that closing the door does not have a detrimental effect on profit. Hundreds of shops, both chain and independent, trade very successfully with their doors closed.

Keeping the door closed can save companies money, since it prevents energy bills rocketing when the temperature drops.

Research by the University of Cambridge conducted in the winter of 2009/10 showed that keeping the door shut while the heating is on can reduce energy usage by up to 50%, or cut a shop’s annual CO2 emissions by up to 10 tonnes – the equivalent to 3 return flights from London to Hong Kong.

Many shops have now signed up to the campaign, including Costa Coffee, John Lewis, Marks and Spencer and Neal’s Yard.

Louise Green, head of sustainability at Neal’s Yard, said:  “It is simply a myth that a closed door will affect transactions and profit, the continued success of Neal’s Yard Remedies is proof that it doesn’t.”

The campaign has support from Climate Change Secretary Ed Davey, Mayor of London Boris Johnson and numerous MPs.

Davey said: “This is such an easy and positive contribution retailers may make to cut energy use significantly while reducing their fuel bills – and increasing the comfort of their staff and customers.”

Smart phone savings

Separately, American researchers have come up with a way to cut the corporate world’s carbon footprint by making sure empty offices are not unnecessarily heated.

They suggest that employees’ smart phones are programmed to feed into the company’s existing network, which can automatically respond to where the people are located in the building.

This will reduce the heating or air conditioning in unused spaces. The smart phone system has the added advantage of being able to access information that would be unavailable to dedicated sensors, such as the type of work that is being performed.

This would ensure that cleaners are not blasted with heat while they are working, or that the air conditioner doesn’t overcool office workers in a meeting room.

Their findings are due to be published in the International Journal of Communication Networks and Distributed Systems.

The post Open doors of high street shops are costing the planet appeared first on Climate Home News.

Imagine it’s is the middle of winter, but instead of battening down the hatches you wedge the front door open, and put the heating on full blast.

Simply bonkers. And quite simply happening in a street near you.

Thousands of shopkeepers in London are doing just that today, hours after a layer of snow descended on the capital.

As I shivered my way down Regent Street at lunchtime I was struck by the hurricanes of hot air gushing out open doorways.

In the space of a few steps shoppers wrapped up in fleeces, hats and thick woolly coats can experience Caribbean temperatures created by fan heaters blasting hot air around huge stores.

Not only is this seemingly unnecessary – it’s clearly a massive waste of energy.

A Saturday in Bath: Crew keeps its door open on a freezing day, but nextdoor neighbours Oska seals out the cold

Research from Cambridge University in 2010 revealed shops who kept their doors open consumed twice as much electricity as those who did not.

Put it another way. Shops that shut their doors could save up to 10 tonnes of CO2 and cut their energy bills in half.

It’s significant. Figures from the UK’s Department of Energy reveal  the service sector accounted for 19% of final energy consumption; of that 20% relates to retail.

And perhaps more pertinently for shopkeepers, on 2010 prices it costs them over £1 billion a year.

Jeannie Dawkins runs the Close The Door campaign, which started in Cambridge a decade ago and now has the backing of London Mayor Boris Johnson, Foreign Secretary William Hague together with high-street chains Tescos and John Lewis.

“Most independents are good, and very close to their energy bills, but it’s the chain stores that are the problem, and they are the majority these days in Britain,” she says.

Burberry’s Regent St store gets a 5/10 for keeping two doors closed

“Going back to the 70s and 80s, a lot of stores think that people will be like marbles, will bounce off the doors and won’t go in if the door is shut.

“But it is clear that there are so many places that do keep the door shut and are trading successfully. People do go through doors.”

Not everyone agrees. Tony Reilly works for retail display specialists Triplar – and he holds a more orthodox view of shopper’s habits: “It is mainly to entice customers into a store as they can see the store is open without looking at signs on the doors.

“If stores are fitted with an air curtain the warmth felt when walking past can also entice them in. Food stores, especially bakeries, will sometimes leave them open as the smell of fresh baking will also bring customers in.

“And believe it or not, customers will sometimes walk by a store because they cannot be bothered to open doors – it is as simple as that.”

Over the weekend I asked one of the staff at the Bath branch of Milletts why their door was open when the temperature was just above freezing?

“It’s crazy” they told me, but “it’s company policy so we appear welcoming to customers”.

They agreed with Dawkins that smaller independent retailers keep their doors shut to save on energy bills – a cost that does not appear to affect larger stores.

Hot ‘n’ cold

This is not simply a winter issue.

The ‘air curtains’ above doorways can be turned to pump out freezing air in the summer, enticing customers in from the heat.

That policy was targeted by New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg in 2008, when he passed legislation banning many stores from leaving their doors open during the summer.

Dawkins says Toronto City Council have followed suit, giving her hope that the movement can build momentum worldwide.

Nothing comes between me and my Calvins. Not even a door. 0/10

“It’s going well, much better than it was. And the research from Cambridge makes it much easier for people to relate to. You wouldn’t do it at home, so don’t do it in the store,” she said.

“We also found a real decline in shoplifting when the stores are shut – that’s worth a lot of money to stores.”

But while the likes of Tescos, Wickes, Selfridges, Rymans and John Lewis have bought into the concept, Dawkins reveals that some stores that market themselves as ‘green’ appear to be less willing to play ball.

“There are a lot of companies who are using a lot of greenwash in their sales, and what they have done is to devolve all responsibility onto their individual managers who say – off the record – that they cannot take the risk, because if their sales go down it will be on their head,” she says.

“The head office if they will not get behind the policy it means nothing – and they are well aware that it means nothing.

“So you have ludicrous situations where Lush is running the Climate Revolution campaign, where it says ‘what’s good for the climate is good for the economy’ – it’s blatant greenwash.

“And quite often the effect is to make customers question what the message is. It’s like saying ‘save water’ with a hose running.”

Few would bet against Lush or the equally recalcitrant Body Shop changing their policy in the next year.

In London, Kingston and Croydon town centres recently joined the cause, together with Conservative MP Zac Goldsmith, which makes Dawkins believe they could be at a ‘tipping point’

“Ideally we’d like to bring 10 more major chains over the next 12 months, which will be hard work, but also to get more going in individual locations,” she says.

“We have somebody in Beijing, Sweden, there’s a Malaysian University campus and Toronto City Council asked for our findings, so there is a good interchange with other places.”

RELATED VIDEO: Campaigning to stop shops wasting energy

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