Stratham, NH — Timberland reduced its facility and travel emissions by 36 percent last year, keeping it on track to cut its emissions by 50 percent by the end of 2010.
The company's goal, which is based on its 2006 emissions, covers all employee air travel and emissions from facilities it owns and operates. Timberland said the bulk of its reduction came from energy efficiency at its retail stores, renewable energy purchases for distribution facilities and reduced air travel.
Timberland has installed LED lighting at almost all of its stores in the U.S., and any new Timberland locations are designed and built based on LEED requirements.
Last year, 12 percent of the company's energy use came from renewable sources, such as the solar power used to run its Ontario, Calif., distribution facility, and its Enschede, Netherlands site, which runs entirely on wind power.
Going beyond its direct emissions, Timberland has been working with suppliers to cut their carbon footprint as well, and has been reporting the product-related footwear factory emissions of its suppliers.
To reduce the energy demand of factories and facilities, Timberland collects information from suppliers about their energy efficiency measures and shares the strategies. This year, Timberland's factory assessors have been trained to use a carbon management toolkit that shows where energy is being consumed and how to reduce demand.
Timberland is also working to reduce the carbon impacts of its products through its Green Index rating system, which helps product developers understand what materials and ingredients are more or less carbon intensive. The Green Index also appears on product packaging to show consumers the environmental footprint of Timberland's boots and apparel.
Other ways that Timberland is greening up its products are through the use of organic cotton (38 percent of the company's cotton was organic in 2009, exceeding its goal to use 10 percent organic cotton) and sourcing leather from environmentally-responsible tanneries.
By the end of 2010, Timberland aims to source exclusively from tanneries that are rated silver or better by the British Leather Company's Leather Working Group. Last year, about 60 percent of the 27 tanneries that Timberland sourced from were rated silver or higher.
Timberland boots - CC license by Flickr user hsuyo
