The industry is fully dependent on a stable climate for its economic future, but also plays a role in climate breakdown through the emissions its operations cause, over 80% of which are produced outside Europe.
Internet Fusion and the more progressive sections of the outdoor industry have been taking steps to cut their impact, improve sustainability and do business differently, moving forward ahead of legislation. Notably, Internet Fusion has cut its direct carbon emissions (scope 1 and 2) by over 93% since its 2018 baseline and has been operating with 99% plastic free packaging for a number of years.
Without regulatory backing, however, even the most well-coordinated initiatives will struggle to gain broader currency. A group of businesses has thus teamed up with the non-profit Protect our Winters to formulate a list of demands, asking policy makers to catch up, to produce policies that support increased sustainability and penalise bad practices.
These demands will be presented in an open letter to European policy makers ahead of COP27 and Protect Our Winters is calling for all heads of the outdoor industry, that care about the planet, the outdoor places that the outdoor community relies on and the economic future of their sector to sign the letter and join this movement for a better future.
”We don’t have time to fall further behind. Every chance to speed up emission reduction must be taken. As part of the Outdoor industry who live by and for nature, as business leaders, we stand united with strength in numbers asking political leaders to radically ramp up ambition and back it with regulation.”
David Ekelund, co-founder/co-CEO Icebug,
“At Burton we’ve worked hard to model a sustainable business of the future, but individual action is not enough to address the global threat of climate change. We urgently need bold legislation to shake up business as usual. The Outdoor Industry must unite to preserve natural spaces that sustain our businesses and life itself. We can wait no more. Please join our collective call for climate action at COP 27.”
Ali Kenney, Chief Strategy Officer, Burton Snowboards,
“The climate crisis calls for leadership;the outdoor industry, with its deep-rooted connection to nature, must be that leader for the wider commercial sector.”
Joe Murray, CEO Internet Fusion ltd,
"We, as the outdoor industry, not only need to address the climate emergency, we want to. We want to be a leader in this space and to do that, we demand legislation that rewards us to be a force for good"
Julien Durant, co-founder, Picture