REI Co-op

Current Sustainability Goals

Ongoing

• Committed to carbon neutral operations in perpetuity – first achieved in 2020. Climate Neutral Certified for its operations, including for its private label brands (REI Co-op and Co-op Cycles) and REI experiences programming.
• Committed to becoming a fully inclusive, anti-racist, multicultural organization.

2025

• Achieve zero waste across our operations. The threshold for "zero waste,” as defined by certifiers such as TRUE, is diverting a minimum of 90% of waste from landfills. We have achieved this in our distribution centers and are continually raising the bar in our retail stores.

2030

• Reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 55% from a 2019 baseline while continuing to grow the business.

Highlights

• Reduced emissions intensity over 15%, from 440 metric tons of CO2eq1 per million dollars of revenue in 2019 to 371 in 2022.
• Sourced 100% of electricity from renewable sources for 10 consecutive years.
• In 2022, roughly 80% of our electrical consumption came from the grid and was generated from a mix of renewable and non-renewable sources. The remaining 20% of the electricity we consumed came from either energy we generated onsite with solar panels or from direct procurement of renewable energy through utilities or other third parties.
• To achieve our 100% renewable energy goal in 2022, we purchased 63,357 MWhs of RECs to account for the grid power we consumed from utilities. These RECs were generated from wind and solar projects in the SPNO and MROW eGRID subregions (for our U.S. operations) and China (for our international office in Shenzhen, China).
• Diverted 84% of operational waste from landfill in 2022 (compared to 83% in 2021 and 78% in 2020).
• Expanded its Re/Supply trade-in service to all retail stores in 2022 and took back nearly 100,000 items from members to resell to other members as part of its Circular Commerce strategy.
• Currently operates five LEED-certified facilities, with a combined size of roughly 1 million square feet.
• Purchased 320,300 metrics tons CO ₂eq carbon credits to maintain carbon neutrality across our operations in 2022. REI’s 2022 Carbon Credit Portfolio Summary.
• 70% of brands (as a % of prior year sales) measure their greenhouse gas footprint and have emissions reduction targets in place (compared to 65% in 2021).
• In 2022, brands reported taking the following actions on sustainability, which accounted for the following portions of our 2021 sales (versus last year):
• 70% (+5 to LY) to brands that measure their greenhouse gas footprint and have reduction targets in place
• 41% (+10 to LY) to brands that offset some or all of their greenhouse gas emissions
• 19% (+3 to LY) to brands that are Climate Neutral® certified or committed
• 69% (+1 to LY) performed better than average on REI’s Product Impact Assessment
• 72% (-1 to LY) to brands involved in industry sustainability forums or initiatives
• 56% (-6 to LY) to brands that have a supplier sustainability training program in place
• In 2022, for the first time, REI purchased and retired renewable energy certificates (RECs) on behalf of manufacturing partners. The RECs, from rooftop solar and large-scale solar farms in Vietnam and Indonesia, address electricity-related emissions from manufacturing REI products in those two countries, resulting in a 6% emissions reduction for co-op product. REI collaborated with each supplier throughout the process to ensure accurate accounting and retirement of the environmental attributes.

2023

Cargo Owners for Zero Emission Vessels (coZEV) — Added 10 freight-buying companies to its ranks, bringing the total to over 35. The announcement is part of the Green Shipping Challenge, a US-Norway joint initiative to reduce emissions from shipping. Among the new members are CEF members Meta and REI Co-op. (Dec 2023)

Clean Energy Procurement Academy — This project aims to equip companies with the technical readiness to explore and adopt clean energy. The Academy will combine online and in-person training and educational resources to help accelerate the integration of clean energy into global supply chains (for example, how to boost supply chain companies’ capacity to invest in renewables). This project was initiated through the Clean Energy Buyers Institute and with support from Google.org, and is co-founded by CEF Members by Amazon, Apple, Meta, PepsiCo, and REI; and by Nike. (Oct 2023)

PR »

Announced the SBTi approved the co-op’s net zero targets of reducing absolute Scope 1 and 2 emissions 47% by 2030 (baseline 2019), as well as committing 41% of its suppliers (by emissions) to having science-based targets by 2025. The company signed a three-year clean energy agreement with Sol Systems alongside the co-op’s largest supplier Nester Hosiery to ensure this supplier gets 100% renewable electricity. The co-op is also purchasing 25,000 Renewable Energy Credits in four Southeast Asian countries through Powertrust and joined the Asia Clean Energy Coalition to help accelerate renewable energy adoption in Asia. (Oct 2023)

PR »

More than a dozen companies submitted letters calling on California lawmakers to finalize first-in-the-nation legislation that would require companies to provide standardized and consistent climate-related disclosures. This includes two laws, requiring companies to 1) report greenhouse gas emissions across operations and supply and value chains, and 2) report on their climate-related financial risks. CEF members Microsoft and REI Co-Op were signatories of these letters. And CEF member Salesforce submitted its own letter in support of reporting emissions. (Aug 2023)

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Joined the CEF member network in July 2023!