American Eagle Outfitters

No leading practices were identified in the governance and strategy area for this company.

Water
The company engages with suppliers to reduce water withdrawal. Many of the company’s laundries are using Jeanologia’s environmental impact monitoring software as an initial step towards measuring and building more sustainable processes. The company’s Water Leadership Program was launched to provide its denim factories with guidance on how to manage water and ensure water is safe before it is discharged. Through this program, the company has decreased the water used per jean by 36%, and ensured all active denim laundries with onsite wastewater treatment are using recycled water back to production processes, with an average water-recycling rate of 44%.

Solid and air pollution
The company is reducing the production of hazardous substances, and is committed to eliminating all perfluorinated alkyl substances (PFAs) from its products by 2024.

Greenhouse gas emissions
The company’s scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions targets are aligned with a 1.5-degree trajectory.

No leading practices were identified in the social inclusion and community impact area for this company.

Sustainability strategy and accountability
The company does not disclose its process for identifying and prioritising its most relevant sustainability topics and impacts. While the company discloses some sustainability targets, no evidence that the company has group wide targets on key sustainability topics for the most material parts of its value chain based on the SBTN Sectoral Materiality Tool could be found in the public domain. The company reports consistently against all its targets. No evidence was found that the company links performance criteria in senior executives’ remuneration policies to targets and objectives which cover nature, including biodiversity, and social issues. The company does not disclose whether its highest governance body has expertise regarding nature-related topics.

Stakeholder engagement
The company does not disclose how it engages with stakeholders, nor the issues it raises during such activities.

Lobbying
The company discloses a list of trade associations of which it is a member wherever it operates. The company does not disclose a clear and detailed framework for assessing alignment of its trade associations with nature-positive policies. The company does not report (potential) misalignment between the lobbying activities of its trade associations and nature-positive policies.

Impact and dependencies assessment
The company has not holistically assessed its impacts or how it depends on nature, including biodiversity. It has an opportunity to start such an assessment across its value chains, focused on quantification of its impacts or dependencies.

Key areas and species
The company does not disclose key species or areas important for biodiversity affected by its operations or suppliers. It has an opportunity to increase its transparency.

Ecosystem conversion and restoration
The company does not have a commitment to ensure zero conversion. The company discloses some activities to achieve conversion-free supply chains. The company does not have time-bound targets to achieve conversion-free supply chains. The company has a commitment to support approaches and systems that does not use ancient and endangered forests in man-made cellulosic fabrics, to minimise ecosystem conversion. The company is not committed to restoring ecosystems. The company does not disclose details and outcomes of ecosystem restoration projects in areas affected by its own operations or by its suppliers.

Resource exploitation and circularity
No evidence was found regarding the company’s efforts to work towards a circular economy or which organisms it exploits. The company has an opportunity to develop a strategy and publicly report on specific, time-bound targets. The company does not disclose efforts to improve soil health.

Water
No quantitative evidence was found of reductions in water withdrawal across the company’s own operations. The company does not disclose a time-bound target to reduce water withdrawal across its own operations. The company does not report how much water is withdrawn for its own operations in water-stressed areas. The company reports a decrease in water pollution. The company discloses its processes for managing and monitoring discharge water quality. The company does not regularly report on water pollution. While the company has a target to ensure water leaving its factories does not pollute the environment, it does not regularly report on water quality parameters. The company does not disclose a commitment to respect the right to water. The company does not disclose its processes for implementing preventive and corrective action plans for identified specific risks to the right to water and sanitation in its own operations.

Solid and air pollution
The company does not commit to avoid developing or marketing new chemicals or products with SVHC (substance of very high concern) properties. The company is not reducing the production of hazardous waste. The company is not reducing plastic use and waste in its own operations. The company does not report on the amount of plastic waste generated and proportions directed from or to disposal. The company does not report on air quality parameters of emissions of harmful air pollutants. The company does not report time-bound targets to reduce air pollutants across the most material parts of its value chain.

Greenhouse gas emissions
The company is reducing its scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions, reporting a reduction in scope 1 an 2 emissions from 49,585 metric tons CO2e in 2020, to 49,480 in 2021. The company has a target to reduce scope 1 and 2 emissions by 80% by 2030, and reports progress against this target. On the other hand, the company is not reducing its scope 3 emissions. Scope 3 emissions increased by 643,200 metric tons CO2e between 2019-2020. The company has a target to reduce scope 3 emissions from purchased goods and services and capital goods 40% by 2030 and 60% by 2040, although it does not report progress against this target.

Invasive species
The company has not identified any activities that could lead to the introduction of invasive alien species in its own operations.

Safe, healthy, clean, and sustainable environment
The company does not show if it is committed to respecting local communities’ right to a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment or to zero tolerance for acts of violence, threats, intimidation or judicial harassment committed against land and environmental rights defenders.

Indigenous Peoples’ and land rights
The company does not show if it is committed to respecting Indigenous Peoples’ rights or Land rights of local communities.

The company has an opportunity to describe a comprehensive process for identifying its human rights risks and impacts across all its activities, especially through its business relationships. The company has an opportunity to describe a process for assessing the human rights risks it has identified and to disclose what it considers to be its salient human rights issues. A description of this process would include how relevant factors are considered, such as geographical, economic and social factors. No evidence was found that the company has a global system to act on its salient human rights issues. The company has an opportunity to disclose the stakeholders it engages with on human rights risks.

The company has a publicly available policy statement which shows it is committed to respecting the health and safety of workers. The company has a publicly available policy statement which shows it expects its suppliers to commit to respecting the health and safety of their workers. The company discloses a time-bound target for paying all workers a living wage/ that it has achieved paying all workers a living wage. There is no evidence that the company describes how it determines a living wage for the regions where it operates. While the company states that it expects its suppliers to pay wages that are sufficient for workers and their families to fulfil their basic needs, it has an opportunity to disclose how it works to support the payment of a living wage by its suppliers. There is no evidence that the company discloses the proportion of its total direct operations workforce covered by collective bargaining agreements. While the company states that it encourages its suppliers to respect employees’ right to freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining, it has an opportunity to describe how it works to support the practices of its suppliers in relation to those.

The company has an opportunity to publish a global tax strategy and should assign responsibility for this strategy to an executive-level individual or body. The company has an opportunity to disclose a policy on bribery and corruption and its processes for identifying and addressing bribery and corruption. The company does not disclose its approach to lobbying and political engagement in a public policy document.