Canada’s Competition Bureau is opening a proper investigation into Lululemon’s environmental practices, based on a non-profit group that filed against the B.C. athleisure large that accused it of greenwashing.
“Stand.earth representatives were notified late last week by Competition Bureau Canada that it has officially opened an inquiry into Lululemon, following a complaint filed by the environmental advocacy organization that alleges the apparel company misleads customers about its environmental impact,” the Vancouver-based group mentioned in an announcement to CBC News.
CBC News has reached out to the Competition Bureau for remark.
Stand.earth’s criticism, which the non-profit mentioned was filed in February, says Lululemon’s Be Planet sustainability marketing campaign from 2020 — wherein the corporate mentioned it could work to cut back its greenhouse fuel emissions — is contradicted by a 2022 impact report that outlined Lululemon’s progress in reaching its local weather targets.
The influence report reveals the corporate’s Scope 3 greenhouse fuel emissions — indirect emissions that happen on account of an organization’s actions, together with these produced by clients utilizing its merchandise— elevated from about 471,100 tonnes in 2020 to 847,400 tonnes in 2022. Lululemon wrote in its report that this space “needs acceleration.”
The firm additionally wrote in 2020 that it “leaned into investments and partnerships to develop sustainable materials that demonstrate our leadership in product innovation and environmental harm reduction.”
Last 12 months, Lululemon partnered with a startup to create garments from recycled nylon and polyester. But the report from Stand.earth notes that most of the firm’s products proceed to be made with polyester or nylon, each of that are supplies manufactured from fossil fuels.
“Lululemon’s customers around the world need to know the real impacts of their climate pollution, not the greenwashed version they sell their products with,” Todd Paglia, government director at Stand.earth, mentioned within the firm’s assertion.
Paglia beforehand known as out Lululemon for greenwashing, a time period used to explain when firms, governments or people mislead others on their environmental practise or environmental advantages.
Do you ever see firms utilizing phrases like “sustainable” or “eco-friendly?” It may very well be a clue that they’re doing one thing known as greenwashing.
A spokesperson for Lululemon beforehand informed CBC News the corporate is targeted on serving to create an trade that’s “more sustainable and addresses the serious impacts of climate change.”
The firm is dedicated to its decarbonization plan, the spokesperson added, with the intention of assembly its 2030 local weather targets and attaining net-zero emissions by 2050.
“We recognize that the majority of impact comes from emissions within the broader supply chain,” the spokesperson wrote, including that the corporate reported by itself emissions within the 2022 annual report.