Nike Sportswear Brand Is Pulling the Wool Over Your Eyes
Have you heard the good news? Nike sportswear and other athletic fashion brands have significantly decreased their carbon emissions? Yay!
But what is really happening? Their emissions are actually increasing upwards of 163% from 2015 to 2021...and that's not counting the emissions from their supply chains!
How Can Their Emissions Be Increasing?
According to an investigation by the great journalists at The Guardian, it is in how the emissions are calculated. It is a scheme developed by the major brands, including Nike, called the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP).
These fashion brands do report their gross global emissions, but these are calculated against total revenue. This means that as long as their emissions increase less than their revenue increases each year, the total emissions are scored as a decrease.
The sportswear manufacturer self-reported emitting 17,975 metric tonnes of CO2 in 2015, jumping to 47,398 in 2021 – a 163% increase.
Makes it difficult to take their commitment seriously, doesn't it?
Especially when that 163% increase doesn't include the carbon emissions from their supply chains or even their own business travel, which IS addressed in the Herron Sustainability Policy. It reminds one of the chicken and the pig in explaining the difference between participating and being committed. The chicken participates in breakfast while the pig is committed.
Clever marketing you might say. Tell the world how your brand is lowering emissions which creates more demand which lowers your emissions even more. Climate change continues toward the 'point of no return' while the executives and shareholders are high-fiving all the way to the bank.