Lululemon: How Energy Impacts Activewear Sustainability

Athletic apparel company Lululemon operates 767 stores around the world and has released its 2024 Impact Report with transparent progress on its sustainability and energy goals.

Its sustainability is led by Noel Kinder, formerly Nike's Chief Sustainability Officer, who joined Lululemon as Senior Vice President of Sustainability in May 2025.

Lululemon has adjusted and dropped some of its targets and made progress in a variety of areas.

"At lululemon, our commitment to create positive change has guided our impact work over the past five years and continues to shape everything we do," says Calvin McDonald, CEO at Lululemon.

“We operate our business with integrity and purpose, and remain focused on advancing impact in the areas of greatest relevance to our company and guests, and where we can deliver the most meaningful results.”

Noel says: “Our FY24 Impact Report results demonstrate the collective dedication and learnings of our teams across the organisation and the power of collaboration in driving transformative change. 

“We are pleased with our progress over the past year, and as we launch our Impact Agenda 2030, we are focused on where we can make the most significant impact, recognising the path forward will demand continued innovation, resilience and deep partnership across the value chain.”

Renewable energy and emissions targets

Lululemon achieved its SBTi-validated Scope 1 and 2 emissions reduction target in 2021 and has maintained it since then.

The company says these emissions are primarily driven by the energy used to heat and cool buildings.

As of 2024, 35% of its Tier 1 and Tier 2 suppliers that previously used coal on site have eliminated their use.

Lululemon has set a target for 50% of electricity consumption among its core Tier 1 and Tier 2 suppliers to be sourced as renewable by 2030.

In 2024, the report says this stood at 15%.

The company is part of the Zero Emission Maritime Buyers Alliance (ZEMBA), a buyers group working to accelerate scalable and economically viable zero-emission shipping solutions for the maritime sector, and the Sustainable Aviation Buyers Alliance (SABA), which is accelerating investment in and adoption of sustainable aviation fuels. 

Supply chain emissions reduction

Lululemon says that it does not use carbon offsetting to reduce emissions.

Instead, Lululemon identifies and implements initiatives across product and material innovation, manufacturing and transportation.

By 2030, it aims to achieve a 60% intensity reduction in greenhouse gas emissions in purchased goods and services and upstream transportation and distribution.

Nearly all of Lululemon's emissions come from the supply chain and it achieved a 29% reduction in emissions relative to profit from a 2018 baseline in 2024.

However, it did see growth in both its total and intensity of Scope 3 emissions.

Sustainable materials and packaging

Lululemon has already met its recycled polyester sub-target a year early with 77% of its total procured polyester was recycled.

The company says in the report that it will not meet its target of a 50% intensity reduction in single-use plastic by 2025 and will remove this goal from future reporting.

It sourced 11% renewable or recycled nylon in 2024 and the report says that "the challenge is finding readily available sources of preferred nylon 6,6 that can be easily scaled".

Lululemon will be adjusting its 2030 preferred materials target from 100% to 90% because the development of innovative preferred materials "has proved to be complex, requiring years of investment in research and development".

It achieved this for 53% of its products in 2024 and 43% of products were procured with more than 50% preferred materials by weight.

To tackle its challenges with nylon, Lululemon is collaborating with ZymoChem to help commercialise and scale plant-based inputs for nylon 6,6.

Resale and circular economy

Lululemon's "Like New" programme buys back eligible items that customers aren't using. All of the profits from Like New products, or 2% of revenue, whichever is higher, is used to support sustainability initiatives.

The report says that 84% of company-operated stores in North America are offering this programme, but it is not offered in Canada. Lululemon is working to launch a new resale model by 2030 as part of a new global 2030 resale and repair goal through Impact Agenda 2030.

In 2024, Lululemon worked with circular.fashion to begin developing circular design guidelines tailored to its products and fabrics.

It also launched a pilot with Accelerating Circularity to recycle post-consumer and post-industrial cotton waste into new products.