Williams-Sonoma Releases 2020 Annual Impact Report

July 7, 2021  by Laurie Northington in Business Strategy, Industry   

The  Annual Impact Report shares the company’s progress and achievements across its three sustainability pillars: People, Planet, and Purpose. The 2020 report also highlights a new goal of having 75% of all WSI products represent one or more of the company’s social and environmental initiatives by 2030, up from 40% as of today. This commitment represents over $1B in product purchases a year.

The scorecard also showcases the company’s progress towards previously-announced goals – several of which have been met or exceeded including:

- Planet Goal: 50% of assortment to be made using responsibly sourced wood by 2021

  - Progress: Goal was met and exceeded a year early with currently 65% of WSI’s assortment being made of responsibly sourced wood

- Planet Goal: Pottery Barn will plant 3 million trees by 2023

 - Progress: On track with goal having planted more than 650,000 trees within first year of announcing goal and 1 million trees to date

- People Goal: Educate & empower 100K workers within the WSI supply chain by 2020

 - Progress: Goal achieved

- People Goal: Pay $3M in Fair Trade Premiums by 2020

  - Progress: WSI doubled the company’s goal in 2020, paying $7.2M in Fair Trade Premiums and became the first Fair Trade Certified home retailer

- Purpose Goal: Exceed 2019 WSI corporate giving donations

  - Progress: WSI doubled annual giving numbers – donating nearly $45M in corporate, customer & associate donations to various causes

Earlier this year, WSI announced the setting of a Science-Based Target (SBT) for emissions reduction across its value chain by 2030, including the goal of carbon neutrality in the company’s own operations by 2025. Williams-Sonoma, Inc. is one of the first in its industry to work with the Science-Based Targets initiative to reduce its emissions in line with climate science. Aligned with the Paris Climate Agreement, the company has set a SBT that will help keep global warming below 2 degrees Celsius to avoid the worst effect of the climate crisis while establishing a pathway to net-zero emissions.

“Williams-Sonoma, Inc.’s decades-long foundation in values leadership and commitment to creating a company that is ‘Good By Design’ set a foundation for the resilience and agility that this past year required,” said Laura Alber, president and CEO of Williams-Sonoma, Inc. “Our company outperformed the industry in 2020, and we met and exceeded many of our sustainability goals, demonstrating that a strategic approach to ESG can deliver business, social, and environmental impact.”