Industry Success Stories

Major US companies (and two important US cities) act to clean up their transportation footprints

Some very large companies and one US city recently took different actions to reduce the environmental and social impacts – including carbon emissions – that come from fossil-fueled transportation. Producing transportation fuel from Canada's tar sands is more destructive, polluting, and carbon intensive than other ways of producing transportation fuel.

Walgreens has clearly decided to eliminate Canada's tar sands from its transportation footprint. Chiquita has committed to identify any connections between Chiquita’s fuel providers and tar sands refineries and to pursue the goal of eliminating fuel from those providers that is connected to tar sands refineries. Whole Foods has committed to the elimination where possible of its use of fuels produced by refineries that use feedstock from Canada’s tar sands. Recent actions by Gap Inc., Levi Strauss & Co., Timberland and FedEx are not specifically focused on Canada's tar sands, but they are relevant because fuels from tar sands are higher in carbon and other environmental and social impacts than conventional fuels. And each of these companies has said, in its own way, that it wants to reduce the environmental and social impacts of transporting products.  Just like Bed Bath & Beyond asked all transportation providers to avoid fuels that would counter Bed Bath & Beyond's goal of reducing its carbon emissions.

The City of Bellingham (one of two US gateway cities for Canada's tar sands) also has a goal of reducing environmental and social impacts – including carbon emissions – so it adopted new guidelines that require minimizing its fuel purchasing from refineries taking feed stock from Canada’s tar sands.

Full list of companies acting to clean up their environmental footprints >> 

Victoria's Secret and ForestEthics: Transformation through collaboration

For two years, ForestEthics ran a high-profile paper campaign against Victoria's Secret for printing over a million catalogs a day with no environmental standards in place. But on December 7, 2006, an incredible transformation was born. Not only did Limited Brands introduce a new environmental paper policy, they also became major advocates for forest protection, standing side-by-side with us in efforts to reform the forest industry and helping us win protection for critical Canadian forests. This video captures the essence of our unique ability to turn our adversaries into allies. 

Shifting the office supply industry towards sustainability

In 2000, we launched a campaign targeting the office supply industry, which had virtually no environmental paper standards. In the years that followed, we succeeded in leveraging groundbreaking commitments from several of these companies—and in 2005, an independent report stated that recycled pulp mills were operating at record-high capacity due to demand from the office supply sector.

In 2008, we co-released our first Green Grades report card providing the environmental information that consumers and businesses are using to guide their paper-buying choices—and to remind paper industry executives where progress still needs to be made.

Helping major companies to protect the environment

Our Market Solutions department has worked with many major corporations. These are examples of companies that have improved their environmental policies and/or the sustainability of their supply chains with our help or advice

• Crate&Barrel—Adopted a leading paper policy with our prompting and guidance, affecting large amounts of catalog paper.
• FedEx Office—Has further improved its environmental paper practices since being reviewed in our 2009 Green Grades report card.
• Hewlett-Packard—Adopted a new paper policy with a commitment to avoid Endangered Forests, maximize recycled content, give preference to FSC-certified sources, and reduce internal paper usage. The new policy affects more than 300,000 tons of paper annually.
• Limited Brands—Advocated in support of caribou protection and other goals with governments in Canada; held joint speaking engagements with ForestEthics at major corporate conferences; and put pressure on its suppliers for improved caribou habitat protection.
• Macy’s/Bloomingdales—Took a strong stance in favor of paper reduction by discontinuing the Bloomingdale’s catalog in favor of web-based sales; and adopted paper procurement goals as part of a new sustainability policy.
• Nordstrom—Shifted to 30% recycled and FSC-certified paper for its catalogs and annual report.
• OfficeDepot—Has further improved its environmental paper practices since being reviewed in our 2009 Green Grades report card. 
• Patagonia—Adopted a “gold standard” paper policy covering its extensive catalog paper purchases, as well as its packaging and office paper. The new policy eliminates Endangered Forest sources and commits to 45% post-consumer content, with the rest of the content coming from FSC mixed sources.
• REI—Adopted an industry-leading paper procurement policy with our input.
• Seventh Generation—Encouraged the British Columbia government to protect mountain caribou habitat.
• Staples—Has further improved its environmental paper practices since being reviewed in our 2009 Green Grades. 
• Starbucks—Encouraged the British Columbia government to protect mountain caribou habitat.
• Williams-Sonoma—Moved 95% of its paper products to FSC-certified sources.

Setting industry standards

 Our Market Solutions Department is improving the management of over 25 million acres of forest in the US and over 63 million acres in Canada by maintaining and strengthening the forestry standards of the Forest Stewardship Council; helping to protect the US Green Building Council’s preference for FSC-certified wood; and providing strategic guidance for our allies and companies on certification issues. We also conduct high-profile public outreach to the marketplace such as this ad at the right—"These days, cutting edge all depends on where you cut." which we ran at the American Forests and Products Association annual industry conference in 2007 (click to enlarge).

We provide market guidance and best practices for companies. This includes a cutting-edge model paper procurement policy, a report on standards for voluntary forest climate offsets, and educational roundtables on environmental issues.