Timberland’s Green Index Alive and Well

Timberland intends to have Green Index ratings on 100 percent of its footwear line by the end of 2012, according to the company's just released corporate social responsibility report.

Highlights of its newest report include:

• Product: Timberland experienced continued growth of Earthkeepers – its most eco-conscious line now comprising one-third of total sales.  Earthkeepers products best represent Timberland’s use of environmentally preferred materials – such as recycled, organic or renewable materials – and this is driving improvements across all lines.   In fact, for the 58.6 percent of footwear measured in 2011, over half the materials were recycled, organic or renewable.  Timberland’s goal is to have Green Index ratings on 100 percent of its footwear line by the end of 2012. Green Index scores are a rating for the climate, chemical and resource impact created from raw material extraction through finished product production; the lower the score, the lower the environmental impact.  As more eco-conscious materials are used – and fewer materials overall – products’ Green Index scores will decrease.   Timberland also continued its work as a founding member of the Outdoor Industry Association’s Sustainability Working Group to advance collaboration for sustainable business and reduce environmental impacts of apparel and footwear brands.  This collaboration of industry recently received recognition from The White House as a Champion of Change for Corporate Responsibility.
• Service: Timberland experienced a banner year engaging communities, achieving its best employee participation rates to date in its Path of Service employee volunteer program, which celebrates its twentieth year in 2012.  These achievements are notable in a year of transition, as Timberland became a member of VF Corporation in September 2011.  The company met its Hours Utilization Rate goal, with employees volunteering 42 percent of total available Path of Service hours.  In total, employees served more than 92,600 hours this year.  Timberland’s aims to increase the Hours Utilization Rate to 60% by 2015.
• Climate: The company’s greenhouse gas emissions increased by 4.5 percent over 2010, which demonstrates a near constant result. This is a positive achievement in a year of strong business growth. The increase was primarily due to increased air travel by employees; in 2012, Timberland will experiment with carbon budgeting to alleviate emissions increases from air travel.  In addition, the company met an industry-leading 2011 goal to source 15 percent of energy from renewable sources and aims to increase this to 30 percent by 2015.
• Factories: Global factory performance remained relatively static in 2011, with continuing business partners showing slightly improved performance. The company was challenged to meet its 2011 target for factories’ environmental performance, as measured by the Global Social Compliance Program. In 2012, Timberland will promote the benefits achieved by those factories that did meet its target to demonstrate financial incentives to other suppliers.  Timberland will share more details about how it is working in collaboration with VF’s compliance team in its Q1 2012 CSR disclosure.

Looking ahead, Timberland will continue to pursue aggressive performance improvements, in line with its 2015 bold goals in a quest to reduce its environmental impact and improve communities worldwide.