REI – Jackie Bach – 2020

Goals

REI Co-op, a member-owned outdoor retailer, and the Outdoor Industry Association (OIA), a trade association representing outdoor brands, enlisted Jackie Bach to explore ways to galvanize action across the outdoor industry via OIA’s Climate Action Corps platform. Jackie’s main body of work centered on scope 3 emissions, which for REI and other outdoor brands, typically represents more than 95% of total carbon emissions.

Solutions

Jackie interviewed stakeholders across the industry including OIA Climate Action Corps Advisory Council members, sustainability leaders at OIA member organizations, and key climate leaders within the co-op. She uncovered thinking around and did research on where brands might align on measuring and reporting scope 3 emissions and how the outdoor industry could position itself as a leader on climate. Recommendations ranged from creating outdoor industry-specific emissions factors to expanding the organizational boundaries when thinking about climate.

Impact

This body of work sets up the outdoor industry to act in concert to address scope 3 carbon emissions. It provides strategic recommendations that have the potential to effect approximately 100 OIA Climate Action Corps members, over 1,000 brands retailed by REI, and an industry contributing about $420 billion to the US economy.