Nike Recognized for Climate Change Leadership

1 February, 2007--Nike has been recognized for its leadership in climate change solutions by the World Wildlife Fund. The company is one of twelve major corporations in the WWF’s Climate Savers Programme that are on course to eliminate at least ten million tons of CO2 emissions annually by 2010.

If 1,300 more large companies join them, this would fulfill the current climate targets of the Kyoto Protocol, according to the WWF.

“Fighting climate change can provide business opportunities and spur innovation and jobs in all parts of the world,” said Hans Verolme, Director of the global WWF Climate Change Programme. “The Climate Savers companies show that sustainable development is not an academic concept but something that can be tackled with a profit – for nature, for society, but also for the companies themselves.”

WWF and the twelve Climate Saver companies met in Paris on 1-2 February 2007, providing an opportunity for these firms to show other corporations the way forward to reducing absolute carbon emissions. A statement released at the conference stated that the solutions to climate change exist: “As members of the WWF Climate Savers Programme, we have gained significant experience in the past years and learned that we can reduce the climate change footprint of our companies and remain viable as a business at the same time.”

All twelve Climate Savers companies have pledged to reduce their absolute carbon emissions considerably, and most found that reducing emissions makes business sense. WWF urges lawmakers and corporate executives around the world to move now and reduce absolute CO2 emissions.

Sportswear manufacturer Nike receives its award at this year’s Climate Savers conference for having reached its CO2 reduction target. “Participation in Climate Savers enabled us to get an early start on an issue that has major consequences for business and society,” said Sarah Severn, Director of Corporate Responsibility Horizons at Nike.

“We have found that constraints can lead to tremendous innovation and despite growth in our owned and managed operations we have become more efficient with our energy use. Our next steps will be partnering with suppliers to further reduce our manufacturing and logistics climate footprint,” she said.

Source: Nikebiz
http://www.nike.com/

Running Against Global Warming
When Nike joined Climate Savers in 2001, it set a target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 13% from Nike-owned operations and business travel from a 1998 baseline by the end of 2005. Nike has since achieved these reductions. Energy efficiency projects lowered the company's facility emissions below 1998 levels while facilities grew by approximately 6%. Nike purchased the green power equivalent to approximately 20% of all electricity that is used in its owned facilities worldwide. Nike's European distribution center installed six wind turbines, with the capacity to power approximately two million square feet, in partnership with its local power supplier. In addition, Nike offset the majority of its business travel CO2 emissions through partnerships with air carriers, rental car companies, government energy departments and the CO2 retail market. Another Climate Savers goal was to remove greenhouse gas emissions from its products - a recent accomplishment. Lastly, Nike completed its goal of measuring the greenhouse gas emissions from its contracted manufacturing and shipping operations, but still has more work to do in order ultimately to reduce those emissions. The contract factories that make Nike products, and the ships and trucks that move those products, represent approximately eight times the emissions of its owned operations and business travel combined. Even though these emissions are outside the widely accepted boundaries of a company's footprint, Nike recognizes the need to address those emissions.
Source: http://www.worldwildlife.org/climate/projects/climateSavers.cfm

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