Here are Nike environmental goals - Nike's most popular sneakers are putting its ambitious environmental goals in check.
The biggest threat to Nike's environmental goals may be its best customers.
The most classic sneakers, and the ones that customers can't get enough of despite the passage of time, including Jordans, Dunks, Blazers and Air Force 1, use significant amounts of leather, one of the materials with the highest carbon footprint.
The rise of its footwear boosted the use of leather by 35% last year.
Nike environmental goals
"Due to consumers' preference for classic Nike models, with more leather, these are outpacing the growth of the rest of the footwear, which puts us behind our plan for 2025," the company itself wrote in its latest corporate responsibility report.
Nike is considered a leader in sustainability in the global fashion and sportswear industry, and therefore has set some of the most aggressive goals to reduce its carbon footprint of the entire industry.
However, the demand for its iconic leather footwear makes a constant tension between its climate goals, consumer demand and Wall Street expectations palpable.
"Which is more important, financial goals or carbon footprint goals? At the end of the day, Nike wants to sell more Jordans because there is demand and companies are always looking to increase revenue," admits Ken Pucker, a senior lecturer at Tufts University.
Nike environmental goals statements
The also former Timberland executive adds: "The economic eagerness is ahead of meeting an emissions target."
Nike has preferred not to comment on this issue, despite the fact that has contacted them.
As part of a new commitment to science-based targets and industry standards, Nike wants to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 90% by 2025. However, the trend is moving in the opposite direction.
The company's total emissions increased by more than 15% since 2015, in part, due to the "increasing emissions intensity" of Vietnam's coal-fired power grid and the increased use of leather.
In fact, Vietnam accounted for 30% of Nike's shoe manufacturing in 2021, far more than any other place. Since then, that figure has been rising to 44%, according to the annual report filed last week with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Nike environmental goals documents
In the document, Nike explained that its new goals were "much bigger" than any of the previous ambitions. These challenges required going beyond "incremental reductions", but also unlocking systemic change, something that, they admitted, would not be felt until the next few years.
In 2019, Nike announced its Move to Zero effort, a precept reflected in some boxes of its footwear, whose objective was to draw a future without carbon emissions and without waste to "help protect the future of sport".
However, a 2-decade review of their reports found that Nike had an uneven track record when it came to achieving environmental and corporate responsibility goals.
