Climate & Energy
At Abercrombie & Fitch Co., our commitment to addressing climate change is directly related to our investments and actions dedicated to renewable energy, reducing carbon emissions and adhering to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals 7 and 13.
Goals
A&F Co. is a UN Global Compact (UNGC) participant and aligns with its views regarding the need to proactively address climate change and the key role the private sector plays in making realistic progress. A&F Co.’s climate goals fit with the aim of the UNGC to limit the global temperature rise to 1.5°C and will consider this when setting future goals and measuring progress.
Total Scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions reduction of 47% by 2030 from a baseline year of 2019
A&F Co. reduced its scope 1 and 2 emissions by 38% in calendar year 2022 compared to a 2019 baseline.
Strategies
CDP Reporting
A&F Co. reports annually to the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), an independent not-for-profit organization that provides a global system for companies and cities to measure, disclose, manage and share environmental information.
We utilize the CDP and other platforms to manage our energy use more efficiently and cost-effectively within our home office, distribution center and store operations. Through the use of the CDP and other platforms, we gain insight into current usage and identify areas of possible change and improvement. A&F Co. most recently submitted our “Climate Change 2023” report, reflecting our 2022 data concerning our Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions.
Owned Carbon Emissions: Scope 1 & 2
Scope 1 & 2 greenhouse gas (“GHG”) emissions include stationary combustion, mobile combustion, fugitive emissions, and purchased electricity. A&F Co. uses the CDP to track its GHG emissions across the company and identify reduction opportunities. We’re actively reducing our scope1 & 2 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions through several strategies, including the installation of LED lighting and submeter systems that identify operational efficiencies across our Global Home Office, data centers and stores.
As of January 2023, we are being supplied with energy under our long-term renewable energy supply agreement, and 100% of electricity used at our global home office and our two distribution centers in New Albany, Ohio will be matched with renewable energy credits sourced through the agreement.
Indirect Carbon Emissions: Scope 3
Scope 3 GHG emissions include indirect emissions that occur in A&F Co.’s value chain, including product transportation, business travel and supplier emissions. With help from partners like the British Standards Institution (BSI) and the Environmental Defense Fund Climate Corp, we continue to track our scope 3 GHG emissions in accordance with the Science Based Targets (“SBT”) guidelines.
As supplier emissions remain a large unknown relative to our Scope 3 emissions, A&F Co. partnered with an Environmental Defense Fund Climate Corp Fellow in 2019 to identify our product shipment emissions in the supply chain. Efforts continued in 2020 as A&F Co. acknowledged the strategic importance and growing significance of transportation and distribution generated emissions from third parties. In 2020, the company began implementing measures to capture emissions data for domestic freight and intermodal transportation to add into its inventory.
In 2021, we partnered with The British Standards Institution (BSI) to identify all applicable categories scope 3 emissions in according to the Science Based Targets (SBT) guideline.
Upstream or Downstream
Scope 3 Category
Upstream Scope 3 Emissions
Purchased goods and services
Capital goods
Fuel-and-energy related activities (not included in Scope 1 or Scope 2)
Upstream transportation and distribution
Waste generated in operations
Business travel
Employee commuting
Upstream leased assets
Downstream Scope 3 Emissions
Downstream transportation and distribution
Processing of sold products
Use of sold products
End-of-life treatment of sold products
Downstream leased assets
Franchises
Investments
Purchased goods and services are the greatest contributor to A&F Co.’s GHG footprint, accounting for 70% of our total emissions. A&F Co.’s sustainability team is working with its sourcing team to identify reduction opportunities, such as increasing our use of recycled materials and more sustainable viscose, as well as enrolling our strategic Tier 1 and 2 suppliers in the Carbon Leadership Program (“CLP”) by the Apparel Impact Institute (“Aii”) to set a reduction plan and target.
A&F Co. will continue our work to establish a reduction target and identify more carbon reduction opportunities