Decathlon commits to reduce its product impact by 20% per year

French sports retailer Decathlon has set up new greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) targets for 2019 and will need to reduce its product-related impact by 20 per cent per year to achieve them.

In 2015, product-related emissions were 74 per cent of Decathlon’s total emissions, taking into account raw materials extraction, production, use, and end-of-life of both the company’s Passion brands products and products of other international brands.

In its sustainability report, the retailer evokes its fight against climate change with a stabilization of emissions to 5.2 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) by 2019, clean water and sanitation by carrying out inspections of subcontractors’ water management, and responsible production and consumption with a new commitment to use only sustainably produced cotton by 2020.

The company developed a new dying process in partnership with subcontractors, including “Dope Dyed” in 2014 and “Supercritical CO2” (or Process “Dry Dyed©”) in 2015, which permits them to dye any piece of clothing with no water, less chemical products and 40 per cent lower energy consumption.

Decathlon says it has made use of the standard GHG protocol methodology launched by the WBCSD (World Business Council for Sustainable Development) and WRI (World Resources Institute) for its annual assessment to measure GHG since 2007.

Along with its economic growth, the company’s emissions increased by 16 per cent – the equivalent of 6 million tonnes of CO2e – from 2014 to 2015, which means that the company has not achieved previous goals.

As part of its eco-design strategy to reduce the impact of its products, Decathlon is focusing on the development of recycled materials such as plastics, cardboard, cotton, and polyester, the listing of renewable materials, innovative processes to reduce water consumption or water pollution during the manufacturing of products, and the replacement of PVS in its products.

The company tries to reduce waste by guiding its customers in the maintenance and repair of products as well as conducting tests to improve the durability of its products.

Decathlon’s design team are developing an environmental labelling scheme to integrate into the quality-price combination for its products.

The label consists of a pictogram solution representing rating of A to E, with a colour-code format from green to red, and it aims at enabling customers to weigh environmental performance into their purchasing decisions.

It is on trial on Decathlon’s French website and five stores in the Rhône-Alpes region of France on specific products, and the brand wants to extend it to all its products and stores.