Burlington Stores, Inc., a nationally recognized off-price retailer of high-quality, branded apparel, footwear, accessories, and merchandise for the home at everyday low prices, has released its fourth annual Corporate Social Responsibility Report. This report highlights the important progress the Company has made across its Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) initiatives during the fiscal year 2021.
Michael O’Sullivan, CEO, stated, “We’re very proud to share our fourth annual CSR report. During 2021, we made tremendous progress on our ESG objectives. We strengthened our ESG governance by forming an ESG/CSR Executive Steering Committee that is led by the most senior leaders of the Company who, along with the rest of our organization, took major steps forward on our ESG strategies and enhanced our CSR policies and disclosures.”
Mr. O’Sullivan continued, “For the first time, we set clear targets to reduce Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions 60% by 2030 and achieve 20% renewable energy consumption by 2030, a key part of our new Sustainability 2.0 strategy. We also made significant progress on our diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives and enhanced our diversity disclosures. Our new DEI Strategic Plan establishes five strategic pillars designed to enhance the diversity, equity and inclusion of our entire organization over time. We also launched the Burlington Stores Foundation, a 501(c)(3) non-operating private foundation to add value to our stakeholders’ communities. We’re deeply committed to our CSR program, and we will continue to dedicate resources to support our ESG goals.”
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Highlights in the CSR report include:
- Set our first environmental targets, by 2030 our goal is to:
- Reduce our Scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions by 60% per operating square foot, compared to our baseline year of 2016, and
- Achieve 20% renewable energy consumption compared to our overall electricity consumption.
- Achieved 44% decrease in Scope 1 and 2 emissions per operating square foot compared to our baseline year of 2016 and 9% renewable energy consumption compared to our overall electricity consumption as of January 31st, 2021.
- Completed our first formal ESG materiality assessment, a process involving a landscape assessment of global frameworks and investor reports; surveying Associates and customers; and in-depth internal and external interviews to understand the issues of most importance to the business.
- Continued our efforts to diversify our team – 74% of our associates self-identify as Female, and 77% as a Person of Color. This year, we provided enhanced disclosure on the diversity of our management team, including diversity at the Manager level and above, as well as at the Vice President level and above.
- Our recently appointed Senior Vice President and Chief DEI Officer evolved our Inclusion and Diversity 2.0 Action Plan into a comprehensive DEI Strategic Plan, including an enhanced governance structure. We were able to achieve our previously committed $1 million donation to organizations dedicated to advancing social justice and racial equality.
- In 2021, we launched the Burlington Stores Foundation, a 501(c)(3) non-operating private foundation to build upon our commitment to community. Its mission is to add value to Burlington communities by enabling people to live better lives.
- At Burlington, we have fair compensation practices and strive to achieve pay equity. In 2021, a rigorous independent third-party assessment showed 99.9% pay equity at Burlington.
- Further developed our ESG governance structure by creating the ESG/CSR Executive Steering Committee which is responsible for steering Burlington’s ESG strategy, as well as CSR policy and disclosure.
- First time listed in the 100 Best Companies to Work For.
- Strengthened our community partnerships – celebrating 20 years that we have been making a difference in the communities where we live and work. Through customer donations at point of sale, Burlington raised nearly $7.3 million for non-profit organizations, as well as continued to help keep those in need warm throughout the country through our Annual Burlington Coat Drive.
Source: Burlington Stores