A Vancouver non-profit is calling on Canada’s competition regulator to launch a greenwashing investigation into Lululemon — saying the athleisure brand is misleading consumers about its environmental practices.
The complaint, which was filed by the organization Stand.earth last Thursday, says Lululemon’s Be Planet sustainability campaign from 2020, in which the company said it would work to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions, is contradicted by a 2022 impact report that outlined Lululemon’s progress in reaching its climate goals.
The impact report shows the company’s Scope 3 greenhouse gas emissions — indirect emissions that occur as a result of a company’s activities, including those produced by customers using its products — increased fromabout 471,100 tonnes in 2020 to 847,400 tonnes in 2022. Lululemon wrote in its report that this area “needs acceleration.”
The company also wrote in 2020 that it “leaned into investments and partnerships to develop sustainable materials that demonstrate our leadership in product innovation and environmental harm reduction.”
Last year, Lululemon partnered with a startup to create clothes from recycled nylon and polyester. But the report from Stand.earth notes that many of the company’s products continue to be made with polyester or nylon, both of which are materials manufactured from fossil fuels.
“We think in this case, Lululemon is telling its customers a bunch of things about the products, that they are environmentally friendly, climate friendly, restorative to the Earth — and that none of those things are true,” said Todd Paglia, executive director of Stand.earth.
“That’s what the Competition Bureau is set up to crack down on, and we’re asking them to do so in this case,” he added.
WATCH | What does greenwashing mean?
Greenwashing: the secret that some brands don’t want you to know | CBC Kids News
3 months ago
Duration 5:16
Do you ever see companies using terms like “sustainable” or “eco-friendly?” It could be a clue that they are doing something called greenwashing.
It isn’t the first time that Stand.earth has brought attention to Lululemon, either, presenting the company with a “coal medal” in 2022 to highlight its coal emissions after the brand was chosen to design Canada’s Olympic wear during the Beijing Games.
“There’s a lot of greenwash out there. We picked Lululemon because they’re the most egregious, but there are lots of companies out there that I think are selling themselves as green,” said Paglia.
“They are such a big brand and so much is expected of them,” he added. “They can actually be part of the solution to the climate crisis that we’re facing by driving the company towards what they say they are already doing.”
A swell of public pressure
Lululemon shorts are seen with a tag describing material components. The description includes the body of the shorts, listed at 95 per cent nylon and five per cent elastane, and a pocket lining as 100 per cent recycled polyester. (David MacIntosh/CBC)
A spokesperson for Lululemon told CBC News the company is focused on helping create an industry that is “more sustainable and addresses the serious impacts of climate change.”
The company is committed to its decarbonization plan, the spokesperson added, with the aim of meeting its 2030 climate targets and achieving net-zero emissions by 2050.
“We recognize that the majority of impact comes from emissions within the broader supply chain,” the spokesperson wrote, adding that the company reported on its own emissions in the 2022 annual report.
The complaint comes amid a swell of public pressure on the Canadian brand. A recent Bloomberg story highlighted members of the yoga community, including former Lululemon ambassadors, who have distanced themselves or severed ties with the company, disappointed by its track record on climate change.
Danielle Hoogenboom, a yoga instructor and activist who lives in Vancouver, worked on a Stand.earth campaign two years ago that called on Lululemon to transition to 100 per cent renewable energy by 2030 — a goal the company says it has met in its owned and operated facilities.
“They’re one of Canada’s most influential companies, one of the biggest fashion brands in the world that promote a healthy lifestyle, but they’re fronting,” Hoogenboom told CBC News. “They’re not really doing what they say that they are going to do.
“I think there’s an infinite amount of potential for there to be a really great shift in the way that business is done. And I would love for [Lululemon] to just step out as an absolute leader,” said Hoogenboom.
A test of Canada’s greenwashing laws
Lululemon’s offices in Vancouver’s Kitsilano neighbourhood are pictured on Dec. 9, 2022. While complaints about deceptive marketing are generally quicker to resolve, these cases can sometimes take years to move through the Competition Bureau’s system, said Keldon Bester, executive director of the Canadian Anti-Monopoly Project. (Gian Paolo Mendoza/CBC)
Marianne Blondin, a spokesperson for the Competition Bureau, confirmed in an email to CBC News that it received the complaint alleging that Lululemon has engaged in deceptive marketing practices. “There is no conclusion of wrongdoing at this time,” she wrote.
“As the Bureau is obligated by law to conduct its work confidentially, we cannot provide further details related to this matter.”
If the complaint moves forward, it wouldn’t be the first time Lululemon is investigated by the Competition Bureau.
In 2007, the athletic-wear company removed unsubstantiated claims that a clothing line infused with seaweed had health benefits, following a decision by the regulator that it violated the Textile Labelling Act.
While complaints about deceptive marketing are generally quicker to resolve, these cases can sometimes take years to move through the system, said Keldon Bester, executive director of the Canadian Anti-Monopoly Project and a former special advisor at the Competition Bureau from 2019-2021.
“Deceptive marketing claims are one of the most frequently brought cases by the bureau. So relative to other parts of the competition, Canada’s competition law, they are quite common,” he told CBC News.
“What we are seeing now with this complaint and the more recent RBC greenwashing complaints is whether these broader criticisms of potentially misleading sustainability claims will be recognized not only by the Bureau but by the tribunal who ultimately decides,” he said.
“These cases are going to be important tests of the limits of Canada’s greenwashing laws.”
While deceptive marketing cases sometimes involve fining an offending company, the goal is often a change in behaviour, added Bester. Still, the Competition Bureau is not required to keep the public updated on active investigations.
“I think it won’t be a snappy resolution by any means,” Bester said.
TOKYO (AP) — Japanese technology group SoftBank swung back to profitability in the July-September quarter, boosted by positive results in its Vision Fund investments.
Tokyo-based SoftBank Group Corp. reported Tuesday a fiscal second quarter profit of nearly 1.18 trillion yen ($7.7 billion), compared with a 931 billion yen loss in the year-earlier period.
Quarterly sales edged up about 6% to nearly 1.77 trillion yen ($11.5 billion).
SoftBank credited income from royalties and licensing related to its holdings in Arm, a computer chip-designing company, whose business spans smartphones, data centers, networking equipment, automotive, consumer electronic devices, and AI applications.
The results were also helped by the absence of losses related to SoftBank’s investment in office-space sharing venture WeWork, which hit the previous fiscal year.
WeWork, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2023, emerged from Chapter 11 in June.
SoftBank has benefitted in recent months from rising share prices in some investment, such as U.S.-based e-commerce company Coupang, Chinese mobility provider DiDi Global and Bytedance, the Chinese developer of TikTok.
SoftBank’s financial results tend to swing wildly, partly because of its sprawling investment portfolio that includes search engine Yahoo, Chinese retailer Alibaba, and artificial intelligence company Nvidia.
SoftBank makes investments in a variety of companies that it groups together in a series of Vision Funds.
The company’s founder, Masayoshi Son, is a pioneer in technology investment in Japan. SoftBank Group does not give earnings forecasts.
Shopify Inc. executives brushed off concerns that incoming U.S. President Donald Trump will be a major detriment to many of the company’s merchants.
“There’s nothing in what we’ve heard from Trump, nor would there have been anything from (Democratic candidate) Kamala (Harris), which we think impacts the overall state of new business formation and entrepreneurship,” Shopify’s chief financial officer Jeff Hoffmeister told analysts on a call Tuesday.
“We still feel really good about all the merchants out there, all the entrepreneurs that want to start new businesses and that’s obviously not going to change with the administration.”
Hoffmeister’s comments come a week after Trump, a Republican businessman, trounced Harris in an election that will soon return him to the Oval Office.
On the campaign trail, he threatened to impose tariffs of 60 per cent on imports from China and roughly 10 per cent to 20 per cent on goods from all other countries.
If the president-elect makes good on the promise, many worry the cost of operating will soar for companies, including customers of Shopify, which sells e-commerce software to small businesses but also brands as big as Kylie Cosmetics and Victoria’s Secret.
These merchants may feel they have no choice but to pass on the increases to customers, perhaps sparking more inflation.
If Trump’s tariffs do come to fruition, Shopify’s president Harley Finkelstein pointed out China is “not a huge area” for Shopify.
However, “we can’t anticipate what every presidential administration is going to do,” he cautioned.
He likened the uncertainty facing the business community to the COVID-19 pandemic where Shopify had to help companies migrate online.
“Our job is no matter what comes the way of our merchants, we provide them with tools and service and support for them to navigate it really well,” he said.
Finkelstein was questioned about the forthcoming U.S. leadership change on a call meant to delve into Shopify’s latest earnings, which sent shares soaring 27 per cent to $158.63 shortly after Tuesday’s market open.
The Ottawa-based company, which keeps its books in U.S. dollars, reported US$828 million in net income for its third quarter, up from US$718 million in the same quarter last year, as its revenue rose 26 per cent.
Revenue for the period ended Sept. 30 totalled US$2.16 billion, up from US$1.71 billion a year earlier.
Subscription solutions revenue reached US$610 million, up from US$486 million in the same quarter last year.
Merchant solutions revenue amounted to US$1.55 billion, up from US$1.23 billion.
Shopify’s net income excluding the impact of equity investments totalled US$344 million for the quarter, up from US$173 million in the same quarter last year.
Daniel Chan, a TD Cowen analyst, said the results show Shopify has a leadership position in the e-commerce world and “a continued ability to gain market share.”
In its outlook for its fourth quarter of 2024, the company said it expects revenue to grow at a mid-to-high-twenties percentage rate on a year-over-year basis.
“Q4 guidance suggests Shopify will finish the year strong, with better-than-expected revenue growth and operating margin,” Chan pointed out in a note to investors.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 12, 2024.
TORONTO – RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust says it has cut almost 10 per cent of its staff as it deals with a slowdown in the condo market and overall pushes for greater efficiency.
The company says the cuts, which amount to around 60 employees based on its last annual filing, will mean about $9 million in restructuring charges and should translate to about $8 million in annualized cash savings.
The job cuts come as RioCan and others scale back condo development plans as the market softens, but chief executive Jonathan Gitlin says the reductions were from a companywide efficiency effort.
RioCan says it doesn’t plan to start any new construction of mixed-use properties this year and well into 2025 as it adjusts to the shifting market demand.
The company reported a net income of $96.9 million in the third quarter, up from a loss of $73.5 million last year, as it saw a $159 million boost from a favourable change in the fair value of investment properties.
RioCan reported what it says is a record-breaking 97.8 per cent occupancy rate in the quarter including retail committed occupancy of 98.6 per cent.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 12, 2024.
