Patagonia is well-known for making high quality outdoor and adventure-wear products, but a lesser known fact is that they are the world’s first corporation to have actively transformed their operations and products to become carbon-positive! With a B Corp Impact Score of 151.4 in 2019 (75 points higher than median!), they were named the Best Changemaker for the third year consecutively. What makes them so respectable in the environmental movement?
Active carbon footprint reduction:
As of 2020, Patagonia has just succeeded its goal in providing 100% renewable electricity for all their US facilities, which includes factories, distribution centres and offices! Worldwide, renewable electricity still takes up about 76% of their energy sources, so this really deserves a standing ovation for Patagonia that had started their sustainable initiatives since they were founded. Their aim is to produce with only renewable and recycled materials by 2025, and with 69% of their materials already sourced from recycled materials, it’s clear that they are well underway with fulfilling another one of their ambitious aims.
Labour conditions:
Patagonia holds the second highest rating in the 2019 Ethical Fashion Report (https://baptistworldaid.org.au/resources/2019-ethical-fashion-guide/), which assesses performance under three criteria: raw materials, inputs production and final stage manufacturing. Their Supplier Code of Conduct audits all of its operations, publicises its supplier list, and ensures that any subcontracting abides to international standards. They are also working towards providing a living wage for all their employees across the supply chain process.
Philanthropy:
Patagonia has donated USD105 million to local environmental groups worldwide and has pledged towards the 1% for the Planet movement, by donating 1% of its annual sales to grassroots environmental organisations. The transparency of these donations are clearly listed on their website: their donations go towards building resilience and education on sustainability. Patagonia even has a foot in the activism sphere too; Patagonia Action Works connects committed individuals to organisations working on environmental issues in the same community. They even have a whole network platform for climate activists from around the world -- how cool is that?
Businesses around the world, big or small, should look towards Patagonia for inspiration when taking steps towards creating sustainability initiatives. Learn more about their initiatives on their website: https://www.patagonia.com/home/
Article written by: Arwen Yeung