CANADIAN LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCY OPENS INQUIRY INTO LULULEMON'S GREEN CLAIMS
Canada's Competition Bureau, an independent law enforcement agency in the country that ensures competition in the marketplace, has opened a formal investigation into environmental claims by Canadian athletic apparel maker Lululemon.
On Monday, Stand.earth, a Vancouver-based environmental advocacy nonprofit, reported that the investigation was opened after a complaint it originally filed in February alleging that Lululemon "misleads customers about its environmental impact." The initial complaint says the apparel maker's 2020 sustainability goals—part of its Be Planet campaign—are at odds with a 2022 impact report Lululemon released last fall showing that the company's Scope 3 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions rose to 847,416 tons in 2022 from 471,130 tons in 2020.
Scope 3 emissions are "the result of activities from assets not owned or controlled by the reporting organization, but that the organization indirectly affects in its value chain," according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Contacted for comment by Newsweek via email, a Lululemon company spokesperson said, "We are aware of the Canadian Competition Bureau's review and are committed to cooperating on any next steps. We are confident that its review will confirm that the representations we make to the public are accurate and well-supported.
"Be Planet is a pillar of our impact agenda that outlines our vision, goals and targets which guide our actions and resource investments in helping to create a garment industry that is more sustainable and addresses the serious impacts of climate change. This work is far from complete.
"We have achieved 60 percent absolute reduction of greenhouse emissions in our owned and operated facilities but recognize most of the impact comes from emissions within the broader supply chain. That is why we have set externally validated (Science Based Targets initiative) 2030 climate targets, and a goal to be Net Zero by 2050, and are taking action."
To achieve its 2030 goal, Lululemon, which earned four stars on Newsweek's latest ranking of America's Greenest Companies, said in its impact report that it pursues decarbonization "by designing lower-impact products and processes, increasing resource use efficiency in our supply chain and facilities, accelerating the use of renewable energy in our operations and supply chain, and directly and indirectly abating carbon emissions."
Stand.earth, though, says these ambitions do not match the company's increase in climate pollution, which the nonprofit says has grown 100 percent since the deployment of the Be Planet slogan.
"People are increasingly looking for products and services that match their values, and so they think when they buy those yoga pants or other Lululemon apparel that it really is good for the climate, good for the environment, and it's not," Stand.earth Executive Director Todd Paglia told Newsweek. "And so that's a really big problem."
Paglia added that challenging environmental claims helps to incentivize "real investment in climate-safe energy production, climate-safe production facilities."
More than 60 percent of the materials Lululemon uses are fossil fuel-derived and cannot be effectively recycled, do not biodegrade, and release microplastics into bodies of water, Stand.earth said in a release.
Lululemon said in its 2022 impact report that making its finished products and materials accounts for 27 percent of its carbon footprint and that it is "committed to reducing our manufacturing GHG emissions by working with suppliers and coalitions to increase energy efficiency and renewable energy use and eliminate on-site coal boilers."
Those measures, though, don't match the level of Lululemon's public statements on its environmental goals, according to Stand.earth.
"Although Lululemon has taken some actions and set some targets to reduce the harmful impact of its business operations and products, Stand's position in its complaint is that Lululemon's business is inconsistent with its public claims to be an environmentally positive company," the group added.
If found to have engaged in greenwashing, the Competition Bureau could fine Lululemon 3 percent of its gross global profits for each year it engaged in the practice, up to $400 million or more, according to Stand.earth.
"We would much rather see that $400 million or some number of millions going into decarbonation, decarbonizing their supply chain, ramping up renewables, moving toward lower-carbon shipping, all the things that we've been talking to them about," Paglia added, "and if Lululemon were willing to move down that pathway and invest real money into becoming the climate champion they claim to be, we would drop our complaint."
As a term, he added that "greenwashing," meaning promoting false or exaggerated sustainability claims, has been around since at least 1986 but that it has seen a recent emphasis in the marketplace due to the availability of data to buttress claims.
"What it really is is lying. And it's a deceptive practice aimed at basically using customers' good intentions to get them to buy your products, and that is illegal," Paglia said. "You're going to see more and more enforcement like what's happening with Lululemon."
Update 5/6/2024, 6:50 p.m. ET: This article was updated with a comment from a Lululemon spokesperson.
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