Trek releases 2023 sustainability report, removing carbon offsetting from its carbon footprint calculations

American bike brand Trek has recently released its sustainability report for 2023 with the company setting its eyes on a more sustainable future.

In the document that you can read in full here, the company states its intentions to reduce carbon emissions by 68% by the end of the decade, moving to completely sustainably produced energy in the same time frame.

Along with the pledges for the production side of the business, Trek is also set to launch the industry's first brand-led bike trade-in scheme. For the immediate future this will only be available to the US market, however it will allow Trek customers to trade in their existing Trek bikes for in-store credit that can be used across its product range. The traded in bike will undergo a refurbishment programme and will then be sold on via the Trek website.

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This scheme is in an attempt to keep bikes in circulation for longer before being deemed as not fit for purpose and scrapped, reducing the effective carbon footprint of its products as they will be recycled and used by multiple people, rather than everyone having to buy a brand new bike from the brand.

Trek has issued a three-scope plan from now until 2032 to reduce the company's environmental impact.

• Scope 1 to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 68%. This is in regards to owned or controlled sources such as vehicles, fuel and buildings.
• Scope 2 is linked with scope one to meet that 68% reduction in emissions, but refers more to the bought energy used, such as the electricity used across its factories.
• Scope 3 refers to the production of the raw materials used by Trek and this is where most of the emissions come from. The aim is to reduce absolute greenhouse gas emissions by 30% by 2032

What is very interesting about the 2023 report is that Trek is calling for scepticism over companies' net-zero claims. The brand also goes on to dismiss including carbon offsetting as part of its carbon footprint calculation as ‘they impair the crucial work of knowing and improving business practices’.

Carbon offsetting is the process by which companies can financially compensate their emissions against green initiatives such as wetland construction or renewable energy programs. The issue with carbon offsetting is that there is no reduction in carbon emissions, meaning that companies can appear to be heading towards net zero emissions without changing any of their working practices.

Trek has already bought into multiple ways to reduce its environmental footprint, such as reduced packaging on all bikes which included the removal of all-single use plastics from all packaging across all product lines. As well as using recycled materials in its clothing lines with 38,000kg of otherwise waste material being put back into circulation.

Trek has made its full 2023 sustainability report available for public viewing where you can take a deeper look at the specifics of its plan for the next 10 years. It is great to see companies in sustainable transport making efforts to become more environmentally aware and to reduce its impacts further.

Trek

Trek is a bicycle manufacturer based in Wisconsin, USA. The company produces a range of bikes, as well as clothing, equipment and tools.