Mountain Equipment Outlines A Radical Approach Towards A Low-Impact Future

Mountain Equipment have published their first Impact and Responsibility report, 'Our way forward', covering their environmental, ethical and social responsibility and intentions for the future.

This annual report covers work the brand has undertaken to date to understand and reduce impact on the environment, to identify and reduce their carbon emissions, and enhance their corporate and social responsibility. It Includes an updated assessment of the business’s carbon footprint, and information on efforts to promote fair working conditions as part of a broader multi-disciplinary approach.

Commenting on the approach, Hamish Dunn, Brand Director said “As a business we have an impact on this world, and as Alpinists we can see the real impact of climate change in the environments we love to explore. The goal of this report is to present the truth clearly and accurately and to demonstrate how we will translate our Alpinist values into business practice.

“Our target to reduce our total carbon emissions by 6% per year throughout the measurable entirety of our supply chains is a genuinely radical approach to decarbonising our product which, if all companies did the same, would have a transformational impact on greenhouse gas emissions. It is also the reason we have chosen not to use the easy option of carbon offsetting, and instead are focused on reducing our emissions at source.”

Working in collaboration with their key partners and the wider community, the brand believes encouraging free and fair access to our wild spaces will help encourage a custodian approach more broadly.

The company conducted an interim Carbon Impact report in 2019 and has since collected data across the whole business and supply chain. For carbon impact, this includes Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions, the latter being indirect emissions throughout the value chain.

Hamish goes on to explain: “We know there is still work to do. Our measurement resources will continue to improve, and our methods will evolve. We acknowledge the gaps in our understanding, and the need to refine and improve the ways we examine our data. We want to report honestly with a focus on consistency and credibility on both positive and negative impacts. We want to calculate and report our impact with an inquisitive approach that is open to new ideas and actions.”

The published Impact and Responsibility report can be accessed here as part of the Mountain Equipment Responsibility section here.