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March/April 2018 —Key brands get goose egg for sustainability
THE 2017 FOREST500
report by Global Canopy
calls out a number of
outdoor-sport conglomerates such as ASICS
Corporation, Li Ning and Skechers for insufficient
environmental support.
First launched in 2014, the annual report
ranks 500 of the most influential companies,
financial institutions, countries and subnational
jurisdictions based on their deforestation
practices. Data is collected from market research,
customs manifests, information on how forest-
related commodities were used, and the market
share for product segments and companies.
Of the total 250 companies evaluated, those
related to outdoor sports, specifically, were
assessed based on their cattle (i.e. leather) and
timber (ie. paper-based packaging) commodity
policies, depending on relevance to their
product range. Transparency in their reports and
operations were also taken into consideration.
Japan’s ASICS Corporation and the Chinese
brand Li Ning scored on the lower end. Skechers
were given zero out of five due to its lack of
commodity policies as well as concrete targets for
environment and carbon emissions. The footwear
giant fared equally badly in other reports too:
ENVIRONMENTon the Rank A Brand website, an international
brand-comparison site on sustainability and
corporate social responsibility, Skechers also
failed in meeting the sustainability criteria and
scored a shocking zero out of 36.
Thanks to commodities-sourcing and use
policies for both cattle and timber, Nike, NewBalance and VF Corporation hovered in the
mid-range in the Forest500 report with a score
of three out of five. VF, the parent company of
The North Face and Timberland among others,
was saved by its Forest Derived Materials (FDM)
Policy, which highlights its use of certified
sustainable resources – though that is still deemed
to be lacking in specifics. VF also has a general
commitment to halving its global environment
footprint, from farm to front door, by 2030.
Sarah Rogerson, one of Forest500’s
researchers, reminds these big players that sus-
tainability should be applied throughout the
production process.
“As companies encouraging people to get
outdoors and in touch with nature, outdoor
companies should ensure that they are not
contributing to the destruction of forests.
“It is important to consider all sustainability
risks in your supply chain. Outdoor companies
are likely to use a lot of paper in their packaging
both pre- and post-sales, [so] it is important that
they consider how they source paper products
and work to reduce their impact on forests by
either decreasing their use of virgin fibres or
sourcing paper products sustainably.”
One company that fared well is the Adidas
Group with a score of four out of five. They’re
lauded for a Leather Working Group that sets up
environmental protocols for suppliers, as well as a
Green Company Programme that targets reducing
absolute CO 2 emissions by 3% per annum and
paper consumption per employee by 75% by 2020.Debunking decompression
IN HIS LATEST BOOK,
seasoned scuba diver and
author Simon Pridmore
debunks classroom theories of decompression
sickness, decompression stress and narcosis,
claiming them to be “over-simplifed and just
w r o n g ”.
Dubbed “Scuba Physiological: Think you
know all about Scuba Medicine? Think Again!”,
the volume starts with a comprehensive summary
of what we know, then goes on to where current
science is taking us, filling the glaring gaps in our
scuba knowledge and finally offering consequent
tips for safer diving.
The chapters in the book were originally
written by scientists in the field of compression
as a part of a global three-year project named
PHYPODE (physiology of decompression).
Pridmore has taken their work and simplified
it to make it more accessible and relevant to the
general population of divers.
DIVE BOOK