With pushes to become more sustainable dating back to the year 2000 with its decision to stop using greenhouse gasses in Air Max sneakers, Nike was an early adopter of the fight against climate change, and it's continuing to do its part with a new initiative known as the Move to Zero.
On the heels of a letter about climate change written by CEO Mark Parker in May, Nike is highlighting a handful of other troubling facts to serve as wake-up calls. Since the '80s, the number of 90°F-plus days has risen globally by 25 percent, with certain U.S. states taking seeing an especially drastic increase.
This has especially affected areas Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas, where the number of football games and practices canceled due to heat could increase by as much as two months by 2050. Snow sports are similarly at risk, with the average number of quality snowboarding days shrinking by up o 22 percent.
A new name given to the Swoosh's longtime goal of achieving zero carbon and zero waste, Move to Zero makes up Nike's numerous environmentally friendly efforts. By 2025, the brand will power its owned-and-operated facilities completely with renewable energy. And by 2030, it aims to carbon emissions across its global supply chain by 30 percent.
As for things it's already doing, the brand has managed to prevent 99 percent of footwear manufacturing waste from winding up in landfills. It also keeps over 1 billion plastic bottles away from landfills by using them to make Flyknit material. Lastly, the brand is also touting its long-running Reuse-A-Shoe and Nike Grind recycling programs, the latter of which was used in Virgil Abloh's NikeLab Chicago Re-Creation Center over the summer.
