Accountability: Gauging What We Do

Contributed by: Esther Speck, MEC Director of Sustainability

MEC has just released our 2011 Accountability Report: Impact. The report is our opportunity to tell members about the performance of the business that we collectively own. In it, we detail the impacts we have – social, environmental, and economic.

Can this kind of transparency influence change? We think so. By examining and sharing the way we do things, we learn and challenge ourselves to do better.

The reason why we’re here is to enable everyone to lead active lifestyles by providing products and services. But how do we actually do that? What are our goals? Are we measuring up? This report shares our progress, both our successes and challenges and covers:

• Making selling, and using products and the people involved
• Supporting the outdoor community
• Our financial results and how they contribute to the ongoing health of the Co-op.

Members

We’ve made progress introducing new product lines that meet members’ needs. We now offer gear for road running and training and we’ve started organizing opportunities for people to get involved with these activities though meetups and races. So far, members like our new offering and we’ll continue to adjust assortments based on their feedback.

Operations

We’re on track to reduce our carbon emissions 20% by 2012 (from 2007 levels). Our entire organization contributes to this. For several years, we’ve been focusing on getting products to stores via multi-modal transport.  Last year, we focused on making energy improvements in our facilities.  We’ve reduced emissions through projects like purchasing alternative electricity in Halifax and all our stores in Ontario.

Product Integrity

To reduce our environmental footprint we increased the amount of bluesign-approved materials in MEC apparel from 10% to 39%. (This is already beyond our 2012 target of 30%.) We also offer members more products that have environmentally preferred materials: organic, recycled, and PVC-free.

Manufacturing

Here’s where we’re facing challenges. We’re behind on a target to ensure that the factories making our products meet our supplier Social Compliance Code of Conduct. (It addresses things like fair labour practices and workers’ rights.) So we are deepening our collaborative approach with brand partners, with factories, and with other groups to resolve specific challenges, and we’re increasing the resources we have available in this area.

Employees

To evolve our product offering, we’re undergoing internal change. For staff, change can be a challenge. Our engagement score of 64% in 2011 was lower than we would like. To address it, we’re talking with staff to understand the challenges, and investing in the solutions that can improve our results.

Future

2012 is an important year. We’re working on our 5-year business sustainability strategy to shape our future, keep our priorities fully integrated, and continue our reporting. We are also expanding our focus on collaboration with industry so we can build collective solutions to challenges we all face.

How are we doing? What do you think? Your perspective is important and we’d like to hear from you. Leave your comments here or email us at accountability@mec.ca.

Esther Speck, MEC Director of Sustainability.  I help MEC, as an outdoor brand and retailer, define, prioritize, and drive action on our sustainability challenges and opportunities and be transparent about our performance. I also oversee our community program where we invest 1% of sales to keep space for adventure, by protecting places and enabling activity. It’s an inspiring role, working with people who find and implement creative and impactful solutions to achieve MEC’s purpose and business goals. I care about business sustainability and impact – and love riding, running, skiing. In fact, I’m up for just about any outdoor adventure!