Where We’re Going and How Far We Have Come: Climate Action on Earth Day

Dear Outdoor Industry Colleagues, 

Today is an opportunity for us to take stock of our industry’s progress on climate and look forward to the work that lies ahead. Over the last year, we saw the power of collective climate action, and the reality we face if we do not keep going. It was inspiring to see the progress Climate Action Corps members, community stakeholders, policymakers, and individual outdoorists made in the past year. At the same time, we saw historic and devastating climate events across the globe. It’s clear the action needed to ensure the future of our industry, our planet, and our communities has never been more urgent.  

Bold climate action is also an act of social justice – and an important step in building an outdoors for all. Climate change isn’t just a math problem; its impacts are felt first and worst by communities of color. Anything less than an ambitious, science-aligned effort to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions perpetuates a dangerous cycle of inequity. We can do better.

However, it is important for us to recognize the progress we have made. Last year marked a historic step forward for our industry, and I want to reflect on our collective achievements in 2021, as well as share our goals for the year ahead. There is still much work to be done to bring our industry to a climate positive future and to catalyze the systemic change required to mitigate the impacts of the climate crisis we face. It’s clear we can’t meet our targets without collaboration. Can you make this Earth Day an opportunity to double down on the collaboration needed to reduce emissions beyond what your company can do alone?

Our definition of “climate positive” means to reduce your emissions in line with a science-based target, remove even more carbon from the atmosphere than you emit and advocate for robust climate policy.”

Climate Action Corps members commit to measure, plan, and reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, share their progress annually, and advocate for broader systemic change. And so, it seems fitting to share our progress in each of these categories.  

 

MEASURE, PLAN + SHARE 

 The Climate Action Corps grew to 100 companies representing more than $27 billion in annual sales revenue. We announced an unprecedented goal to become the world’s first climate positive industry by 2030. This new goal seeks to aggressively reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with outdoor gear and harness the power of nature to remove more carbon than its members emit – two decades ahead of Paris Agreement-aligned targets. 

We also released our first Annual Impact Report in June, and we were thrilled to share the following progress from year one of the Climate Action Corps:  

  • 84% of Corps members have fully measured the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from their owned or controlled operations, known as scope 1 and 2 emissions. 
  • 78% set targets to reduce these emissions and 49% are actively reducing them through improved energy efficiency and sourcing renewable electricity in the U.S. 
  • 39% of Corps members have fully measured scope 3 emissions, and 28% are taking action to reduce this impact – a number that we expect to grow greatly in the coming years through targeted supply chain collaborations.  

We will release our second Annual Impact Report this summer, and look forward to sharing the individual and collective progress of the Climate Action Corps in year two.  

 

REDUCE + REMOVE 

To further support Climate Action Corps members to reduce and remove even more GHG from the atmosphere than they emit, we launched the Impact CoLab program last fall. Impact CoLabs are targeted collaborations that OIA leads or partners on to help Corps members work together to reduce emissions that are hardest to reach by one company alone. We are currently working to launch five CoLabs: 

  • The Alternative Nylon CoLab is helping brands look at the potential to scale up virgin nylon alternatives within their own business and the industry’s supply chain. 
  • The Carbon Leadership Project CoLab is helping soft goods suppliers measure facility-level GHG emissions, set targets, and reduce GHG emissions with less time, cost, and effort by prioritizing factories shared by Corps members. 
  • The Virtual Power Purchase Agreement (VPPA) Aggregation CoLab is compiling a group of Corps members to invest in a large-scale renewable energy development (i.e. solar or wind farm) to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from operations in the U.S. and Canada in a cost-effective way.
  • The Drinkware CoLab helps drinkware suppliers measure facility-level GHG emissions and identify decarbonization projects. 

We plan to expand our offerings in the year ahead. Reach out to our team if you’re interested in joining. 

 

ADVOCATE 

We recognize the risk of climate change to both our businesses and the environment. That is why we’re taking immediate action within our own industry to mitigate that risk. But we also know the business community alone cannot address this threat – our government needs to play a leading role. OIA and Climate Action Corps members worked throughout the year to make our voices heard on significant climate legislation with far-reaching impacts for the health of our planet, people, and our industry. 

  • In May, Climate Action Corps members and outdoor community leaders sent a letter  to the White House vocalizing support for President Biden’s American Jobs Plan, specifically as it relates to the plan’s climate change provisions, funding for nature-based infrastructure, investments in the energy workforce, and advancing environmental justice and equity.  
  • In September, OIA and 29 member companies sent a letter of support to congressional leadership for significant climate provisions in the proposed budget reconciliation legislation, including funding for a Civilian Climate Corps, the Growing Climate Solutions Act, and Every Kid Outdoors. We also hosted a webinar to engage the full OIA membership in this once-in-a-generation opportunity for action. 

This May, we will bring together outdoor business executives, community partners, and policymakers for The Summit. During this event, leaders will collaborate and commit to act on the most pressing issues — and greatest opportunities — of our time: climate change, inclusion, and outdoor equity. 

 

LOOKING FORWARD 

Our industry is made up of trailblazers, explorers, and passionate leaders who push the limit on what is possible. We have never been afraid of a challenge, and we have a long legacy of stewardship. While our industry is uniquely impacted by threats of climate change, these attributes make us uniquely positioned to help address them.  

This year, you’ll continue to see us increase the capacity of the tools that we provide for measuring GHG emissions, expansion of our resources, trainings and 1:1 technical support, and collaborative opportunities to reduce supply chain emissions.  If your company is interested in accelerating your progress on climate action and contributing to the industry’s climate positive ambition, I invite you to join us. We also welcome organizations interested in partnership or sharing insights and resources to reach out to climateaction@outdoorindustry.org. 

 

Sincerely, 

Amy Horton 

Director of Sustainable Business Innovation 

Outdoor Industry Association 

Happy Holidays from OIA Executive Director

Dear Outdoor Industry Colleagues,

As 2021 comes to a close, I want to extend my deep gratitude to you—our members, partners, and industry peers who are united by a love of the outdoors and the outdoor industry. Together, we are navigating COVID-19 and ensuring the outdoors and our outdoor businesses thrive through our work on outdoor recreation and trade policy, sustainable business innovation, and outdoor equity and participation.

New research from our team—including the 2021 Outdoor Participation Trends Report, a special report on the new outdoor participant, and our holiday season purchasing behavior special report—provides an unprecedented look into how Americans’ relationship with the outdoors has shifted. Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, more Americans have turned to the outdoors for their health and recreation than ever recorded, some for the first time and others for the first time in many years. These new participants are likely to be female, young, living in an urban area, and more diverse.

This new data shows that our industry has an incredible opportunity to be inclusive and grow the outdoor economy, while expanding and diversifying our partnerships that amplify the importance of advocacy to protect our public lands and waters and tackle the impacts of a changing climate.

On the advocacy front, we galvanized policymakers and our members to promote policies and programs that create jobs, invest in recreation infrastructure, support predictable and balanced trade, and foster responsible recreation, protection, and care for our natural resources and our environment. In November, I joined President Joe Biden and a group of bipartisan lawmakers and business leaders at the signing of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which includes significant funding for outdoor recreation.

We are grateful that the outdoor industry has a seat at the table during this process and thankful that our voices were heard. The Summit in Washington, D.C., planned for May of 2022, will build upon OIA’s 2021 momentum with more opportunities for advocacy and engagement. This event will convene outdoor business executives, community partners, and policymakers to collaborate and commit to act on the most pressing issues—and greatest opportunities—affecting our industry: climate change, inclusion, and outdoor equity, with an intentional focus on their intersections within the outdoor economy.

OIA members also made major strides to address the climate crisis. The OIA Climate Action Corps, a collaborative group of 100 outdoor industry businesses working to accelerate science-based climate action and influence policy, set a bold aspiration to become the world’s first climate positive industry by 2030. This new goal seeks to aggressively reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with outdoor gear and to harness the power of nature to remove more carbon than its members emit. The Corps also released its year-one progress report, demonstrating accountability toward our shared industry-wide climate positive goal and emphasizing progress over perfection. As we close out the year, OIA is helping Corps members collaborate to implement renewable energy in the U.S. and across our shared supply chains, in addition to other collaborations.

The Outdoor Foundation announced its second cohort of Thrive Outside Communities, welcoming the communities of Maine, Philadelphia, St. Louis, and the Twin Cities region to the Thrive Outside family. This expansion of communities is possible through the generous donations of OIA members. Outdoorists and community partners across the country celebrated National Thrive Outside Day, with inclusive and accessible outdoor programming and engagement opportunities in our eight Thrive Outside Communities.

As we look to the New Year and the work ahead, it’s clear that a strong and well-supported trade association is critical to accomplishing our shared goals. Thank you to those who stepped up to Leadership- and Support-level membership during the past year.

Our work continues, and we urge you to join us for what’s next. I hope to see you at Outdoor Retailer Snow Show next month, where OIA will host live education sessions designed to inform and enlighten, as well as illustrate how you can get engaged in this work in 2022.

Together We Are a Force,
Lise Aangeenbrug
OIA Executive Director

Covid Edition: Letter from Our Executive Director

It is hard to believe a full year has passed since the global coronavirus pandemic shut down our nation, ravaged communities and caused economic disruption unseen in our lifetimes. We won’t soon forget the devastation, and there is still much work ahead to repair the damages the outdoor industry incurred. However, as I reflect on the past year, I am inspired by how our community came together to respond to this crisis and to deliver some powerful achievements, demonstrating our resilience and strength.

I am particularly proud of the following actions that OIA and our industry were able to take:

We conducted an industry-wide member survey to understand the business impacts of the pandemic and to learn how OIA can lend a hand with tools, resources and advocacy support. We heard from our members the value of focusing on critical outdoor issues such as equity in the outdoors, climate action, public lands, conservation, the outdoor recreation economy and trade. We also heard the need, loud and clear, for new ways for our community to convene. We have already begun delivering on these issues and will continue to do so in 2021 to demonstrate value to our members.

The outdoor industry showed up to support our critical work. We made many asks of you, our members, in the past 12 months, and we are humbled to share that your support will allow us to continue to serve to elevate the collective voice, influence and power of the outdoor industry. Thank you to those who stepped up to Leadership and Support membership levels.

Countless outdoor industry businesses rapidly pivoted their production to make millions of PPE units—including masks, face shields, gowns, ventilators and other critical equipment— for frontline workers. At OIA, we worked quickly to support our members with tools such as this webinar to help move efforts faster and further. Read the inspirational stories here.

Outdoor Retailer went virtual, and OIA pivoted to provide more than 20 education sessions at the Summer and Winter Online shows. Watch our on-demand sessions on topics ranging from DEI to outdoor recreation and from climate action to participation and trade.

OIA advocated on our industry’s behalf in Washington, D.C., and at the state level for economic disaster relief and delivered resources, such as our COVID-19 Hub and webinar and Campfire Conversation series. We also developed a comprehensive policy platform for the 2020 election and secured key meetings with the new administration and Congress.

Outdoorists committed to #VoteTheOutdoors and followed through. In a time of great political division and polarization, protecting the outdoors is one thing we can all agree on. Together through our #VoteTheOutdoors campaign, we were able to preserve public lands and waters, lower costs for outdoor businesses, help advance sustainable business practices and shape public policy.

Outdoor participation grew. Forthcoming research confirms what our industry was reporting anecdotally: people across the country were able to find a reprieve from the pandemic in outdoor activities like trail running, hiking, camping, fishing, biking and more. I take comfort in knowing our industry helped millions of Americans recreate safely through the Recreate Responsibly coalition and that retailers and outfitters across the country found new and creative ways to continue serving their customers, many of whom were newcomers. Our Special Report, The New Outdoor Participant (COVID and Beyond), will help you learn what motivated these newcomers and offer strategies for retaining them, even after pandemic restrictions are lifted.

The Thrive Outside Initiative released its first annual Impact Report. The Thrive Outside Initiative empowers communities to make outdoor recreation an accessible lifestyle for all. This effort is a catalyst to drive positive outcomes in critical areas such as health and wellness, youth development, social justice and community development—all more important than ever during the pandemic. Read what we were able to accomplish and how the communities adapted in year one.

We committed to building a just and equitable outdoors. As the association for the outdoor industry, we have a voice—and a corresponding responsibility to do more. The police killing of George Floyd and countless instances of racism and racial violence against Black people were horrific, and we know these events are not isolated and are part of a long history of systemic racism and injustice in our country and in the outdoors. Read our statement and commitment to do better, as well as the progress we made in 2020.

The Climate Action Corps grew to more than 80 members. In light of global circumstances around the pandemic, it would not have been surprising to see companies take a step back from their sustainability efforts. But the outdoor industry doubled down on its commitment to combat the climate crisis, and we gained dozens of new and committed Corps members. Learn more about our industry’s collective commitment to measure, plan and reduce its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and share progress annually.

Despite the challenges and setbacks our industry endured over the past year, we also demonstrated incredible resiliency and unity. I am eager to see how this momentum carries our industry toward continued collaboration, innovation and growth.

As always, please do not hesitate to reach out to our membership team. We are here for you as we collectively work to recover.

Together We Are a Force,

Lise Aangeenbrug
OIA Executive Director

US-UK Free Trade Agreement: To advocate, tell us your priorities.

United States and United Kingdom Continue Negotiations on a Free Trade Agreement

The United States and United Kingdom are currently negotiating a free trade agreement, and we need your help in identifying the key priorities for the outdoor industry.

On May 5, 2020, the two sides launched the first round of negotiations and followed up with a second round on June 15. While the timing of an agreement remains unclear, there have been reports that the U.S. and U.K. may push to conclude an agreement before the November U.S. election.

OIA will track the negotiations closely and advocate on behalf of the outdoor industry’s priorities. You can help OIA identify the priorities for the industry by contacting me and by answering the following questions:

  • What products or inputs do you currently source from the U.K.? Please share a copy of the U.S. Harmonized Tariff Schedule (USHTS) codes for those products.
  • Are these products only available from the U.K.? If not, why do you choose to source from the U.K.?
  • Has this trade increased or decreased over the past 1, 3, 5, and 10 years?
  • What is the total value (in U.S. dollars) of your 2019 imports from and exports to the U.K.? (Please differentiate between imports and exports.)
  • For domestic manufacturers, what products do you currently export to the U.K. from the United States? Please provide the Schedule B USHTS codes.
  • What non-tariff barriers and/or regulatory challenges do you face in in the U.K. market?
  • How would the elimination of tariff and non-tariff barriers between the United States and the U.K. impact your business?

Please send your responses to me (rharper@outdoorindstry.org) by July 31, 2020. In the meantime, please do not hesitate to reach out with any questions or to learn more about how you can participate in this process.