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Environmental Sustainability: A Way of Life at REI
July, 2009
By Monica Gray & Heidi White
As both consumers and the government demand
higher sustainable business standards, a diverse
mix of companies strive to uphold the
eco-friendly reputation they’ve developed.
Recreational Equipment Inc. (REI) believes that
sustainability is a team sport. They don’t
practice it because it gives them a competitive
advantage, but rather because they “want to
create a market for green products.” (Ethix,
11)
Massive documents outlining numerous
sustainability goals and self-proclaimed
environmental awareness have historically been a
leading environmental business practice.
Unfortunately, such blanket public statements
often produced little more than a mere “green”
PR initiative. Highlighting goals too broad
and/or mutually exclusive from the business’s
profit-driven initiatives, the generally
defined, short-term eco-driven plans tend to
fall short of linking strategies from long-term,
widespread environmental practices to
bottom-line business necessities. REI
demonstrates that successful sustainability is
possible, particularly in collaboration with
other businesses.
Outdoor equipment retailers are one type of
company whose consumers tend to give the benefit
of the doubt when it comes to exercising
sustainable business practices. Despite this
luxury, REI has taken on the responsibility of
crafting strategic steps to reduce its
ecological footprint. By shifting away from what
REI President and CEO
Sally Jewell describes as
the “random acts of kindness” approach to
environmental business practice, REI has moved
to a calculated “way we do business” plan.
Jewell says her vision is based on a belief that
placing the environment at the top of REI’s
business agenda “is important to the long-term
health of the planet, and therefore, the
long-term health of our business” (Schultz, 29).
In addition to reducing its carbon emissions and
setting a bold goal to bring landfill waste to
zero by 2020, REI joined with other businesses
to create the
Outdoor Industry Association (OIA)
Fair Labor Toolkit. The Toolkit is intended to
provide a resource for companies as they look
for ways to ensure proper conditions for
supplier factories. (OIA Website)
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Specifically, REI joined with
Timberland to address how
manufactured products affect the environment. “What we are
really looking for,” said
Kevin Hagen, REI Manager of
Corporate Responsibility, “is collaboration across the
industry to have enough clout and resources and background
to make substantive change.” (Schultz, 33) In 2006, REI and
Timberland collaborated with Center Stone, Nalgene, Yellow,
RBC Capital Markets, and Kenco Logistic Services to present
the “2006 Outdoor Industry Rendezvous.” The OIA website
describes the OIA Rendezvous as “the only Outdoor Industry
conference that gives attendees the opportunity to “network
and make new industry colleagues,” attend a forum to “learn
best practices from your peers,” and find “practical, easy
to implement ideas that will help you work differently.”
(OIA Website) |
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Protecting the environment and placing
it first benefits society, as well as satisfies the
needs and desires of all REI's stakeholders.
Practicing sustainability in conjunction with
government and other businesses is how REI chooses
to operate. It's also a tremendous part of the
voluntary environmental initiatives that Dr.
Bruce Paton, Associate Professor at San Francisco State
University's College of Business, addresses in his
research paper “Voluntary Environmental Initiatives
and Sustainable Industry.” Paton offers a
combination of voluntary initiatives and academic
research to help businesses achieve sustainable
industrial systems.
http://www.greeningofindustry.org/gin1999/Paton.pdf.
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REI also collaborated with
Forest Ethics, a
nonprofit environmental organization whose
mission is to protect endangered forests by
exposing corporations that destroy them.
(Forest Ethics Website) In December 2006, REI
collaborated with Forest Ethics after its paper
purchasing policies received a “D+” grade. REI
took the poor review seriously and is working
with Forest Ethics to turn the low grade into a
form of constructive criticism.
Aaron Sanger,
Director of Forest Ethics’s Corporate Action
Program, says, “In terms of engagement with
stakeholders and transparency, REI has really
distinguished themselves.” (Schultz, 32)
According to Jewell, “We believe it is in the
long-term interests of REI to preserve natural
spaces, engaging people in playing outdoors and
taking care of the environment.” (Ethix,
7) Companies like REI combine outdoor product
salability with environmental sustainability;
it’s their way of life. Environmental
sustainability is a big part of the corporate
culture at REI; it attracts employees and
customers alike because it’s important to them.
To refocus on the long-term benefits of
environmental sustainability, perhaps companies
should ask themselves the following: “What
environmental issues are important to our
stakeholders? How must we incorporate them to be
successful over the long term?” In REI’s case,
Jewell determined that “to be serving outdoor
enthusiasts for 100 years from now and beyond,
you have to have outdoor enthusiasts, and you
have to have the outdoors as well.” (Ethix,
7)
Sources:
“The Ethix Conversation: When
Customers and Shareholders Align,”
Ethix
(January/February 2009): 6–14.
Abby Schultz, “The REI-ght
Stuff,”
CRO, (May/June 2007): 28–33.
Bruce Paton, “Voluntary
Environmental Initiatives and Sustainable
Industry,”
Business
Strategy and the Environment 9,
no. 5 (September/October 2000): 328–338,
http://www.greeningofindustry.org/gin1999/Paton.pdf.
OIA Website:
http://www.outdoorindustry.org/about.html.
Forest Ethics Website:
http://www.forestethics.org/index.php.
Keywords:
environmental business practice, ecological footprint,
voluntary environmental initiatives, OIA Fair Labor Toolkit,
OIA Rendezvous, best practices, stakeholders, transparency,
environmental sustainability, corporate culture, sustainable
industrial systems
Organizations:
Recreational
Equipment Inc. (REI);
Outdoor Industry Association (OIA),
Timberland, Center Stone, Nalgene, Yellow, RBC Capital
Markets, Kenco Logistic Services,
Forest
Ethics
People:
Sally Jewell, REI President and CEO;
Kevin Hagen, REI Manager of Corporate Responsibility;
Bruce Paton, Associate Professor at San Francisco State
University's College of Business;
Aaron Sanger, Forest Ethics Senior US Energy Campaigner
and US Campaign Strategy Advisor
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