Jones Green
Sustainability Progress
At the Jones Group, we are committed to understanding and improving our impact on the environment. While recognizing that we have only begun on the path to sustainability, we provide in this document a status report on our current environmental activities, focusing on leadership, greenhouse gases, and resource reduction.
I. Environmental Leadership at the Jones Group
With a goal of reducing our carbon footprint and minimizing other environmental impacts, we have established an Executive Green Committee to explore environmental opportunities throughout the company. The Executive Green Committee consists of fifteen strategic business executives having direct impact on our decisions to incorporate green initiatives. Additionally, we have identified more than 200 of our associates to be "eco-ambassadors" working in parallel with the Executive Green Committee to raise environmental awareness among employees, exemplify green practices in the workplace, and brainstorm new ways to increase efficiencies and adopt environmentally-friendly practices.
II. Greenhouse Gas Inventory, Emissions Reduction Projects, and Life Cycle Assessment
Scope 1 and Scope 2 Inventory
Working with Esty Environmental Partners, the Jones Group ("TJG") in 2009 performed its first Greenhouse Gas Inventory to understand its climate change impacts. We examined the emissions associated with all TJG-controlled facilities. We analyzed CO2 and fugitive refrigerant hydrofluorocarbon (HFCs) emissions. The inventory accounted for all the fuel and electricity directly consumed by our business (Scope 1 and 2 emissions)1, sometimes relying on estimates and model extrapolations for calculation. Whenever possible, we followed the internationally-recognized Greenhouse Gas Protocol (GHG Protocol).
In addition to segmenting the footprint into electricity and direct fuel use, we broke down our Scope 1 and 2 footprints into relevant categories of emissions sources: retail stores, distribution centers, and offices/other facilities to better understand our emissions profile and identify reduction opportunities.
Energy Reduction in the Distribution Centers and Retail Locations
We have been exploring innovative ways to reduce costs while obtaining environmental benefits. In 2008, TJG completed its first successful lighting retrofit project of our 1250 Forest Parkway location in West Deptford, NJ. Over the course of a year, we realized a 40% reduction in kW consumption that was directly attributed to the replacement of old and inefficient lighting technology as well as the addition of motion sensors in the warehouse and offices.
Throughout 2010, as part of an ongoing corporate green effort, TJG has been examining opportunities to reduce energy consumption across all of our facilities. Over the past several months, we have continued to upgrade our distribution center fixtures in an effort to improve lighting and safety for the employees, as well as reduce cost and environmental pollution.
In South Hill, VA, we recently completed the replacement of the 400w metal halide lamps and T12 fluorescent fixtures with newer and more efficient technology. As a result, our first measurements have yielded a 36% reduction of kW usage. In addition to the reduction in cost and improved quality of lighting in the warehouse, we can expect to achieve positive results with respect to a significant decrease in emissions:
- 5,926,577 pounds of carbon dioxide
- 9,877,629 grams of sulfur dioxide
- 22,916,099 grams nitrogen dioxide
Currently we are set to begin our second retrofit project at our West Deptford, NJ location. We will be replacing all of the metal halide lamps in our 1245 Forest Parkway distribution center and are confident we'll achieve similar results to previous projects, including a significant increase in overall lighting in the facility and considerable reduction in emissions:
- 1,919,404 pounds of carbon dioxide
- 7,165,776 grams of sulfur dioxide
- 3,199,007 grams nitrogen dioxide
Additionally, we are improving lighting at our retail store locations. Lighting retrofits and replacements of heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems are reducing not only energy use, but financial costs as well. In retail stores, the new lighting fixtures generate less heat, decreasing HVAC energy use. Based on the results of these projects, we are committed to exploring similar opportunities in other distribution centers and retail stores.
Scope 3 Inventory
TJG inventoried GHG emissions from a number of Scope 3 emissions sources1, including third-party logistics. We calculated all logistics footprints by including emissions from multiple greenhouse gases: CO2, CH4, and N2O. The inventory accounted for all inbound and outbound logistics, sometimes relying on estimates and model extrapolations for calculation. For logistics emissions calculations, we used the U.S. EPA Climate Leaders' Greenhouse Gas Module for Commuting, Business Travel, and Product Transport.
Estimating the Life Cycle Impacts of Our Products
With the goal of better understanding our products and their impacts, we are beginning to assess the carbon, water and toxics impact of our products across various stages of their life cycle. We are looking at raw materials production, product manufacturing, product logistics, retail sales, and consumer use and care. We are studying these impacts at both the Company and divisional levels
III. Material Reduction
Reduce the Use
Our REDUCE THE USE campaign has been put in place to create awareness, to decrease our use of paper and other supplies and to lower the overall costs of paper products. Additional initiatives to control costs and reduce consumption are in process or under consideration, including converting to recycled materials wherever cost-feasible. Additionally, we have formalized the Company's recycling procedures to ensure proper and consistent execution in all locations.
Green Collateral and Packaging Initiative
The goal and mission of the Jones Green Printed Materials & Packaging Group is to evaluate the current use of paper as it relates to our hangtags, shoeboxes, shopping bags and printed collateral to begin to move toward more significant use of recycled, renewable and Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) rated materials without increases in costs. Additionally, we are working with other industry leaders to develop environmentally-friendly hangers.
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TJG plans to continue to expand its current sustainability efforts. We are working towards further understanding, reducing, and reporting on our carbon footprint. We will continue to look across the value chain for opportunities to improve our environmental performance.
1According to the World Resource Institute/World Business Council for Sustainability Development's (WRI/WBCSD) Greenhouse Gas Protocol (GHG Protocol), Scope 1, Scope 2 and Scope 3 emissions are defined as follows:
*Scope 1: Direct GHG emissions are emissions that occur from sources owned or controlled by the company (for example, emissions from combustion in owned or controlled boilers, furnaces or vehicles).
*Scope 2: Electricity indirect GHG emissions account for GHG emissions from the generation of purchased electricity consumed by the company. Scope 2 emissions physically occur at the facility where electricity is generated.
*Scope 3: Other indirect GHG emissions are an optional reporting category that allows for the treatment of all other indirect emissions. Scope 3 emissions are a consequence of the activities of the company, but occur from sources not owned or controlled by the company. Some examples of Scope 3 activities are extraction and production of purchased materials, transportation of purchased goods and use of sold products and services. Scope 1 and Scope 2 together comprise a company's direct responsibility for GHG measurement.