The Nike company has an immense presence in our lives. Just do it! It is the iconic Nike slogan, and you probably have heard it many times. The top athletes and movie stars wear that brand, and Nike makes Furman University apparel. There is a big chance you own a pair of Nike shoes. But the main question we need to ask is how sustainable is Nike as a business, and should we give it a passing grade?
So how much environmental damage does Nike’s business currently cause? We all know production, shipping, and management create carbon emissions, but how much carbon emissions Nike produces? Nike 2020 emitted 11,706,664 metric tons of CO2e. For reference, this is about the amount the capital of the Netherlands, Amsterdam, emitted. As for the growingly scarce resource, such as water, Nike uses 1 liter of water per 79.1 Kg of textiles.
Nevertheless, Nike has made plans to improve its sustainability record. Nike makes several clear science-based targets every five years. Currently, Nike is trying to accomplish the FY25 target. Meaning they aim to achieve their goals by the year 2025. In their plan for 2025, there are four categories of sustainability goals – Waste, Carbon, Water, and Chemistry objectives.
To improve waste, Nike promised to reduce it per unit of manufacturing by 10 percent with improvements in the design of their products, machinery, and transportation procedures. Goal two for waste was diverting 100 percent of waste and recycling it by 80 percent, and up to 10 times the amount of product waste donated to be recycled. One procedure Nike advocates is closed-loop recycling. Closed-loop recycling uses the remains of old products (post-consumer products) to produce new products.
As for carbon emissions, Nike promised to reduce them by 70 %. Like many other companies, Nike hopes to achieve this through renewable energy and fleet electrification. Fleet electrification is where electrical engines replace combustion engines of vehicles used by a company. A report from Nike’s Sao Paulo distribution center has already begun fleet electrification and powered it with Nike-owned solar farms.
With water becoming a growingly scarce resource, Nike promised to reduce freshwater usage in textile production by 25 % and restore 13B liters of water through portfolio projects. In 2021, Nike completed two projects with The Nature Conservatory to achieve this goal. In India, they converted 30 hectares of farmland into drip irrigation. The second project saw 84,000 hectares of biodiverse wetlands and floodplains in Murray Darling, Australia, registered as a conservation area.
Their final goal is to find and adopt ten clean chemical alternatives for their ten priority chemistries. So far, Nike has failed to adopt even one clean chemical substitute (according to a 2021 report).
Per the 2021 Nike report, they have made progress on every promise except finding clean chemical alternatives. They are on track to complete all their pledges except for water restoration and the collection of consumer-used products.
So, knowing all this, how sustainable is Nike? According to their self-reported data, they are doing well enough. They have a science-backed system with measurable targets and have made massive progress in their promises. Nike might not be the most sustainable company, but it is up to you if you want to “Just Do It” using Nike’s products.
Resources:
https://www.globaldata.com/data-insights/consumer/nike-greenhouse-gas-emissions-2095668/
https://about.nike.com/en/newsroom/resources/sustainable-development-goals-sdgs
https://www.renewableenergyworld.com/storage/nike-to-reduce-its-greenhouse-gas-emissions-5565/
https://us.thesportsedit.com/blogs/news/how-sustainable-is-nike