SBTi Verifies Parent Company’s Net-Zero Science-Based Target by 2050
Spartanburg, S.C. (November 17, 2022) — Polartec® — the premium creator of innovative and sustainable textile solutions — announces its parent organization Milliken & Company now holds approved science-based net-zero targets. Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), a U.N.-backed collective dedicated to helping companies set emission reduction targets consistent with climate science and the Paris Agreement, verified Milliken’s short- and long-term targets earlier this summer. These targets apply to Milliken’s entire business portfolio, including the Polartec brand.
“Polartec’s commitment to net-zero greenhouse gas emissions aligns with our brand vision of sustainable science and the pledge to continually do better,” said Dan Patterson, Interim President & CFO of Polartec. “It is our driving force, together with Milliken as a whole, to promote the importance of circularity, transparency, natural resources, and sustainability which ensures a future rooted in mindful manufacturing and reduced impact on our environment,” he continued.
“At Milliken, sustainability is a core value,” shares Halsey Cook, President and CEO of Milliken & Company. “Climate change is placing pressure on communities, on companies and on our planet. The time to take meaningful action is now.”
SBTi calculates that companies committed to cutting emissions in line with climate science now represent $38 trillion — one-third — of the global economy. Milliken is one of the first 50 companies globally to achieve approved science-based net-zero targets and joins a group of more than 1,400 companies who have made net-zero commitments using the 2021 SBTi Corporate Net-Zero Standard. Milliken is the first company to be approved in South Carolina, where Milliken’s global headquarters is located.
“Not all net-zero is the same, which is why Milliken and Polartec commit to reaching real net-zero greenhouse gas emissions across the value chain by 2050 from a 2018 base year,” says Kasel Knight, general counsel and head of sustainability at Milliken. “By working with SBTi, our net-zero commitment, along with our approved near-term and long-term targets, has been fully vetted by the best available science on a global scale.”
