If you don’t measure your footprint, you can’t manage it.
MEC measures our greenhouse gas emissions by following the GHG Protocol: Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standard. This framework helps companies measure emissions in a consistent way, and groups our emissions from activities into scope 1, 2 or 3.
Scope 1 and 2 emissions
Our scope 1 and 2 emissions include stores and physical buildings – things like heating, cooling and electricity. MEC has measured our scope 1 and scope 2 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions since 2005. For decades, we’ve worked hard to make our stores more energy efficient to reduce these emissions.
Scope 3 emissions
Scope 3 is a huge category that covers basically everything else: the products we make and sell, products from other brands we sell, shipping products from factories to distribution centres to members, waste generated in our operations, how products are used (e.g., how many times something is washed, how long it lasts), and what happens to products at the end of life (e.g., landfill versus recycling).
In 2021, we took the next step and measured our full scope 3 emissions. It became incredibly clear that most of our climate impact was in this area.
2021 total emissions
When we looked at our scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions together, it was super obvious that most of our climate impact was in scope 3.
So what makes up scope 3 emissions?
Our first assessment of Scope 3 paints a pretty good picture of the breakdown of our emissions, but we’re working on ways to improve the accuracy of the data to sharpen this image year after year.
For the latest numbers, check out our annual sustainability progress report for the most up to date emissions and how we’re tracking towards our goals.
*Yep, scope 3 even considers how products are used, which includes stuff like how many times something is washed, the electricity you need to charge it, and how much camp fuel is burned.
