Nordic Outdoor and Fashion Together
Over 90 brands in the outdoor, fashion and sports industries have now signed The UN Fashion Industry Charter for Climate Action. The STICA Network will ensure that Scandinavian brands reach the same goals.
Peak Performance was one of the first companies to sign the UN’s charter and join STICA. Now it has been one year since its launch – what have you accomplished over the past year?
“We are roughly 10 Scandinavian outdoor brands such as Peak Performance, Fjällräven, and Bergans as well as approximately 35 representatives from Scandinavian fashion companies. STICA, which stands for the Swedish Textile Initiative for Climate Action, was initiated by the consulting company Sustainable Fashion Academy, together with H&M, KappAhl and us, Peak Performance. We began by putting together a steering committee with six people who meet every week. We put together an overarching ‘industry roadmap and action plan’ that consists of three steps. In short, the first step concerns training, the second step concerns getting all member companies started with measuring and reporting their emissions within Scope 1, 2 and 3. Then comes the big step: Starting to reduce emissions.”
“During the first year – the training phase – four workshops were held and Scope 1 and 2 were measured. Not only did we learn more about emissions in the various scopes, but we also discussed communication. For example, when can a company rightfully call itself climate neutral? Is it sufficient to mitigate your emissions with carbon offsets or is this just a type of ‘greenwashing’?”
What will Peak Performance be working on in 2020?
“In 2020, we will be focusing on measuring and reporting our emissions in Scope 3. Our network contains everything from H&M with approximately 200 employees who are working on sustainability, to smaller companies who don’t even have a director of sustainability. So it’s clear that some of us have different resources and that some will have more to do than others. But by working together, we can find a clear path forward, utilize the same methods and definitions and learn from each other.”
“At Peak Performance, we had already begun measuring Scope 1 and 2 and had been monitoring Scope 3 thanks to the European Clothing Action Plan (ECAP) project.”
After 2020, the STICA members will have nine years to reduce emissions by at least 30% in order to live up to your commitment – are you going to succeed?
“It’s within Scope 3 that we’ll have our greatest impact, and that’s where we should be looking at all of the links in our supply chain – tier 1, 2, 3 and 4. In the outdoor industry, we have the advantage of often having a close working relationship with our material suppliers. In addition, many of us have the same suppliers. If – as a group – we can tell our suppliers that we need to reduce our total climate impact and that we need their support, then this will create synergy effects. Other effects like this can include procuring consulting help together.”
“Within the STICA network, we have also committed to follow the Science Based Targets, and if they raise their goals and ambitions, we must follow suit.”
“One advantage with a public commitment is that owners and management stand behind the goals. So the question isn’t whether we will succeed but rather how.”