Adidas aims for 100% sustainable cotton
German sportswear group adidas announced its Environmental Strategy – a five year plan to “reengineer the company’s approach to environmental management” – on 22 March, 2011. As part of the strategy, which was published together with the group’s 2010 Sustainability Report, adidas stated it is committed to using 100% sustainably produced cotton by 2018.
The strategy touches every function of the brand, from internal office operations to the amount of sustainable content in its shoes.
“Implementing environmental performance across our value chain is an important step to deliver sustainable operations over the long term,” said Herbert Hainer, adidas group CEO. “At the same time, our Environmental Strategy creates a sustainable platform for future performance improvements and innovations and is therefore essential for the success of our business.”
A key aspect of the strategy is the company’s commitment to using 40% ‘Better Cotton’ by 2015 and 100% by 2018. The adidas group co-founded the Better Cotton Initiative which aims to improve the environmental impact in the mainstream cotton industry. The primary focus is on reducing water consumption and pesticide use in cotton farming.
“We think that supporting this approach helps us to mainstream the sustainability agenda within the global cotton market,” said Frank Henke, director of social and environmental affairs at adidas.
“By supporting the Better Cotton Initiative, we want to contribute to making global cotton production better for the people who produce it, better for the environment it grows in and better for our consumers,” said Mr Hainer. “Our goal is to use 100% Better Cotton in our products by 2018 and we are excited to work closely with the Better Cotton Initiative towards achieving this ambitious goal.”
Another significant initiative in the strategy is “Green Company”, which looks at the own sites of the adidas group. During 2010, the group’s headquarters in Germany and five North American sites worked together to create a shared environmental management system, certified to ISO 14001. According to the brand, all certified locations are managed in accordance with the international management system standard which allows global target-setting and management at HQ as well as a standardised approach to day-to-day environmental management at site level.
Other goals outlined in the brand’s Environmental Strategy include a 50% reduction in the amount of colours used within the adidas sports performance division by 2015 (excluding colours required by clubs outfitted by the brand), a 10 to 15% drop in energy emissions by product output at core suppliers by 2015, a 20% drop in energy consumption, 30% reduction in carbon emissions, 20% water savings per employee and 25% waste reduction per employee by 2015.
