Coyuchi forms climate council to drive sustainability

Coyuchi, the organic luxury bed, bath, and apparel company, has assembled a council of leaders across fashion, regenerative agriculture, and sustainability to form the Coyuchi Climate Council, as it looks to map new climate goals.

The coastal-inspired brand has formed a council with individuals with expertise in five key areas: regenerative agriculture, GHG's and offsets, ESG reporting, textile chemistry, and circular systems, to assist it on its path towards Net Neutral Emissions by 2025 and Net Positive Emissions by 2030.

The Coyuchi Climate Council includes Jeff Hogue, chief sustainability officer at Levi’s, Cara Chacon, founder and principal consultant at Intentum Corporate Responsibility Consulting (formerly Patagonia), Steve Finkel, founder and president at White Buffalo Land Trust and Amanda Cattermole, founder of Cattermole Consulting Inc.

Eileen Mockus, chief executive and president of Coyuchi, said in a statement: "Coyuchi's pursuit of sustainable innovation has never been achievable in a silo. The complexities of the textiles supply chain do not allow for us to work alone, and when we launched our first circular product in 2020, we recognised the true value of our network in the battle against climate change.

"This small but mighty group of leaders was carefully selected for their deep rooted expertise across industries and I am confident they will push Coyuchi to be innovative and aggressive with achieving our goals.”

The move coincides with Coyuchi releasing its first annual Impact Report, which provides metrics around the company's sustainable accomplishments starting with 2020. It also outlines its new climate goals and a roadmap to achieve them, including developing a Climate Action Plan to identify hot spots, a climate materiality assessment, and a climate risk analysis.

Key accomplishments from January to December 2020, include 100 percent of its products made from 100 percent natural fibres and 99 percent were Global Organic Textile Standard Certified. The company also invested capital in carbon farming practices on over 6,000 acres in California.

In 2020, Coyuchi also became the first home brand to create a fully circular product through its renewal program, 2nd Home Take Back, which was honoured for its impact by Textile Exchange in the 2021 Ryan Young Climate+ Awards for Climate Leaders.

In addition to environmental metrics, Coyuchi's 2020 Impact Report also highlights its charitable initiatives to support a fair and equal society. This includes ensuring that 2,000 factory workers in India received Covid-19 Relief, used to purchase groceries and sanitising materials, and supporting more than 400 smallholder farms, with less than five acres, with Fair Trade Premiums.

Coyuchi, which is celebrating 30 years in business, also adds that the company has a 90 percent female workforce and its executive leadership team is 100 percent women.