Environmental Leader

Canadian Tire, a retailer of tire and automotive parts, gas stations and general merchandise and apparel, says it will be among the first Canadian companies to include their sustainability metrics in its quarterly and year-end financial reporting, according to its first Community and Business Sustainability Report.

Starting in 2010, the company will report some sustainability metrics quarterly while other metrics will be summarized annually.

Here are several environmental highlights in the company’s first sustainability report.

Canadian Tire is completing an energy-efficient lighting program in 361 stores. This helped save over 45 million kilowatt hours of energy in 2009, and will help save another 85 million KWHs annually from 2010 onwards. The program also prevented the emission of over 11,500 tons of carbon dioxide in 2009, and is expected to reduce emissions by another 20,500 tons annually starting in 2010.

The lighting retrofits also translated into energy savings of $6 million in 2009. The company expects to save another $12 million in 2010.

The retailer has a Smart Store in Orleans, Ontario, which is 30 percent more energy efficient than stores built three years ago, says the company. Energy-saving features include fluorescent lighting, daylight harvesting, motion sensors to control lighting, high efficiency heating and cooling systems and increased insulation, which are now standard for all new Canadian Tire stores. The Smart Store was an Outstanding Merit Award winner as part of the Association for Retail Environments’ (A.R.E) Sustainability Awards in 2009.

Canadian Tire plans to implement a national centralized energy management system, which will reduce its electricity and gas consumption through a central energy management company. The program is currently being tested at its Canadian Tire stores. Eight store tests have been completed to date with a complete national rollout by the third quarter of 2010. A similar test was conducted in the fall of 2009 in five PartSource locations, with a full rollout expected in 2010.

In 2009, Canadian Tire also helped develop and fund Ontario’s used tire program that collects and recycles over 11 million scrap tires generated annually in the province. The program will eliminate close to three million stockpiled tires in Ontario dumpsites by 2012.

The company’s new packaging sustainability network is developing new projects aimed at reducing packaging of its retail branded products, which will also help reduce the waste the company generates.

Canadian Tire also reduced the projected carbon footprint of its transportation activities by 7 percent from 2005 to 2007 by using more direct vendor shipments to its stores, increasing its rail shipments, and packing shipping containers more efficiently.

The company also has a pilot project underway to test long combined vehicles on Ontario roads. These vehicles can reduce transportation costs by almost one-third, along with reducing fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions, according to the company.

At its gas stations, Canadian Tire uses cleaner and higher efficiency fuels that contain five to 10 percent levels of ethanol to help reduce the amount of carbon dioxide emitted from vehicles. The company is currently evaluating the addition of hydrogen in truck engines to yield higher efficiency. The company’s goal is to reduce fuel consumption on these trucks by 10 percent.

Canadian Tire plans to attend Wal-Mart Canada’s Green Business Summit on Feb. 10.