Becoming Carbon Neutral - A Letter From Our CEO
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To our Vuori Community,
Vuori has always been deeply connected to the natural world. Our air, land and sea are finite, precious resources and their natural playgrounds are what inspired us to set out on this adventure and dream up the products we make. It's only natural we do our part to protect them. With that being said, we are proud to announce we have taken the steps necessary to achieve a Climate Neutral Certified status by measuring our 2019 greenhouse gas emissions and investing in certified environmental initiatives that 100% offset our footprint. In addition, we are taking the steps necessary to not only reduce our emissions, but also the waste we generate in the course of operating our company.
We offset our 2019 carbon emission of 14.3k metric tonnes by supporting projects like The McCloud River Conservation-Based Forest Management Project in Mt. Shasta, CA, which helped preserve 9,000 acres of forest land and protect 14 different tree species and 13 wildlife species. In addition, we invested in the Spartanburg County Landfill Gas Combustion Project in Spartanburg County, South Carolina, which “promotes the sustainable management of gases that accumulate as trash decomposes. By capturing the methane onsite and putting it to beneficial use for heat and electricity, the project aims to responsibly handle trash and use it as a necessary feedstock for other industrial processes”.
We are proud to make investments in support of these projects, but our work on this front is far from complete. By 2022 80% of the textiles we purchase for use in our garments will be comprised of certified sustainable materials. Over the same period we are committed to a 80% reduction in the use of plastic in our supply chain. The first step being the elimination of the majority of poly bags used to package our garments, an initiative that’s currently underway and will go live in 2021. In addition, we are working with our mill and factory partners to establish and enforce strict policies pertaining to chemical use, dying, processing and beyond.
We recognize making clothing is a dirty business, but as we look to 2021 and beyond we will continue to measure our environmental wake, make investments to reach carbon neutrality and establish quantifiable benchmarks that will help guide our decision making towards a cleaner future for our planet and the people that inhabit it. We promise to keep you updated as we reach these milestones and set new goals. As always, we invite you to ask questions and challenge us to continue to do better. The road to healing our natural world is a complex and ever changing one. So as new information is revealed, our hearts, eyes and ears will remain open, ready to do our part in preserving this incredible planet we are blessed to call home.
To a happier, healthier planet,
Joe Kudla, Founder and CEO