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Exploration is defined as the act of searching or traveling a terrain for the purpose of discovery. For The North Face, it defines our raison d’être. In scientific research, exploration is the attempt to develop an understanding. We have to explore together this concept of sustainability and to act on our understanding — incomplete as it may be.   — Lizzy Hawker, The North Face athelete
  • Todd Spaletto explains why sustainability is part of our heritage
  • Our global reach
  • Sustainability Manager Adam Mott explains our program philosophy
  • Key sustainability data in one handy table
  • Five areas are critical for our sustainability program
  • A formal stakeholder session provides valuable feedback
“Our products are built to last a long time thus reducing their impact on the environment. From there, our sustainability philosophy is to focus on our largest volume materials to create the greatest environmental benefit. In addition to incorporating recycled and renewable content in our products, we are implementing the bluesign® standard, a system for managing chemical inputs and resource efficiency in the supply chain. ” — Philip Hamilton, Vice-President of Product
  • We work with the bluesign® standard to reduce supply chain impacts
  • We build products that last and that have a lifetime warranty
  • We use castor oil to replace petroleum-derived materials in our Venture Line of apparel
  • Almost 42,000 plastic bottles were incorporated into our 2010 Denali fleece collection
  • We are reevaluating our approach to sourcing cotton
  • Our internal Product Rating Tool drives sustainable design
Our passion for the outdoors inspires us to preserve the well-being of our planet. We believe that few issues affect The North Face as deeply as climate change. Our athletes, customers and employees return from expeditions with stories of receding glaciers, decimated forests, unprecedented drought, and a natural world that is changing visibly. This has energized our efforts to minimize our environmental impact and to protect the earth for future generations.
  • Our athletes help us educate others on this issue
  • We are working to improve our progress against our GHG reduction goal
  • Our suppliers reduced GHG emissions by 3.1 million pounds in the manufacturing of our products
  • We offset 9,662 MT of GHG emissions, equivalent to keeping 1,895 cars off the road for a year
  • We joined with other forward-looking companies to support climate change policies through BICEP
Just as with any expedition we undertake, our goal is to leave no trace. On any journey, carrying less waste out starts with bringing less in, using durable materials, and reusing and repurposing as much as possible. In keeping with this philosophy, we are committed to eliminating waste and inefficiencies in our operations, manufacturing, packaging, and in our day-to-day activities. Here’s what we’re working on:
  • Creating a culture of sustainability helps reduce office waste
  • Follow our trail to paperless workbooks
  • Our Closed Loop Tote bags “close the loop” by using scrap fabric
  • We joined with TerraCycle to upcycle plastic polybags
  • A new recycling program proves successful
  • Watch the video about our supply chain water and wastewater work
At The North Face, our sense of community extends far beyond the walls of our offices. We ensure that our associates are motivated in their jobs and that the workers in our supply chain are treated fairly. We support the communities where we work and play and we partner with many organizations that share our mission to enable exploration. Our goal is to ignite a passion to preserve the natural world by enabling access to outdoor activities and building a sustainable connection between people and the planet.
  • Our mission to enable exploration expanded its reach with four new programs in 2010
  • Three athletes share their inspiring stories
  • We showcase our work with the Conservation Alliance and the Khumbu Climbing School
  • We have strong protocols in place to protect the workers in our supply chain
  • Our 2,080 associates are the source of our success
We are pleased to present our first public sustainability report. By providing this picture of where we are today and where we plan to go, we are engaging our stakeholders and upholding our commitment to transparency and corporate responsibility. We have followed the Global Reporting Initiative standards for a C Level Report. While much of this report leans heavily toward the achievements in our United States office, we also provide details on some of our global sustainability work.

  • Standard disclosures for the Global Reporting Initiative
The North Face 2010 Sustainability Report: Measuring GHG Emissions
Measuring GHG Emissions

Measuring our emissions helps us track our progress toward our goal.


Goals and Progress

Tracking our greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions helps us understand our impacts and develop a strategy for reducing our footprint. By investing in renewable energy and energy-efficiency measures, we have been able to decrease the emissions from our U.S. operations by over 9% per unit sold from 2008-2010. We are on track to meet our five-year goal of a 25% reduction in emissions from U.S. operations by 2013. While this goal is normalized per unit of product sold, we are also working to reduce our absolute GHG emissions and to develop a broader program focus.

GHG Goal

Reduce energy use by 25% per unit sold from 2008 to 2013.

2008 to 2010 Progress: 9.3% reduction; on track to meet our 2013 goal.

GHG Inventory

At The North Face, the greenhouse gases we add to the atmosphere come largely from our energy use. This includes the energy involved in processing raw materials, manufacturing, product distribution, and heating and cooling our facilities. Business travel and commuting contribute additional energy-releated greenhouse gas emissions.

The North Face reported 2007-2009 U.S. GHG emissions to the former EPA Climate Leaders Program. We are reporting 2010 U.S. emissions related to our GHG reduction goal in this report. We follow the GHG protocol developed by the World Resources Institute and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WRI/WBCSD). This includes:

  • Direct emissions (Scope One): This encompasses on-site energy production, natural gas usage, and fuel for vehicle fleets. We report this data for our U.S. facilities here; additional data is included in the VF Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) report.
  • Indirect emissions (Scope Two): Purchased electricity, steam or heat. This is included in the U.S. operations data.
  • Other indirect emissions (Scope Three): This category is broad and considered optional by the WRI/WBCSD. We track U.S. business travel and employee commuting for the purposes of determining opportunities for reduction as well as the emission amounts we offset.

VF Corporation measured and reported its global greenhouse gas emissions, including those from The North Face, for the first time in 2010, covering 2009 emissions. VF was commended by the CDP for its sound approach to climate change reporting and was featured in CDP's Carbon Disclosure Leadership Index. This index highlights the companies within the S&P 500 Index that have displayed the most professional approach to corporate governance regarding climate change disclosure practices. See VF's CDP reports for 2009 and 2010 emissions here.

As most of our operations outside of North America are located in facilities with other VF brands, the process of identifying the portion of the VF GHG emissions attributable to our brand is complicated. We are developing a methodology to address this and will launch a new global data management tool in 2012. This will help us further standardize our GHG emission reduction initiatives, data collection and reporting.

Results

U.S. CO2e Emissions per Thousand Units Sold

2008

2009

2010

0.309

0.303

0.281

2008–2010: 9.3% decrease in emissions per thousand units sold

With our two-year, 9.3% reduction in GHG emissions (expressed as CO2e, or carbon dioxide equivalent) from U.S. operations, we are making steady progress toward our 2013 five-year goal of a 25% decrease. A closer look at the data helps us determine where to focus our efforts to enable us to meet or exceed this goal.

U.S. Operations: Emissions

Metric Tons CO2e

 

The decrease in GHG emissions from our U.S. distribution center since 2009 reflects our investment in a 1MW solar installation and energy-efficiency improvements at that location. Energy-efficiency measures are also behind the downward trend for emissions from our headquarters. In 2012, we plan to move to a new campus we are designing to meet LEED Gold standards, which should further reduce our carbon footprint. The increase in retail locations from 24 in 2008 to 34 in 2010 has driven the emissions increases associated with these facilities; this is where we need to focus our future efforts.

We commissioned a study in 2010 to investigate the opportunities for more aggressively reducing our emissions to enable us to achieve our 25% reduction goal. The report identified eight stores where significant reductions would be achieved by focusing on lighting, heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems (HVAC), and employee engagement. There are more details on our reduction initiatives in the next section.

Read on: Reducing Our Footprint