Sustainability Interview Series — Hallmark

Picture by Abhinav Sunil

Complicated organizations must implement sustainability initiatives that reduce throughout a number of companies. To look deeper at one such group with various companies, we interviewed Kristin Edie, vp of enterprise sustainability at Hallmark, about her management function and essentially the most impactful sustainability efforts at Hallmark throughout Hallmark Media, Crayola, and Hallmark Playing cards.

Position And Duties

Abhijit Sunil: Please inform us extra about your function because the chief for sustainability at Hallmark and your inside group.

Kristin Edie: I’m the vp of enterprise sustainability. Hallmark has a portfolio of companies, together with Hallmark, Crayola, Hallmark Media, and Crown Heart. I work on the enterprise stage to set the environmental technique, objectives, and targets. As well as, if there are initiatives that cross a number of companies, my crew will take the result in implement them. One instance is our provider engagement program, which incorporates suppliers of lots of our world companies and types.

Along with my crew working throughout the enterprise, we’ve got extra sustainability groups within the particular person companies. Whereas these groups don’t straight report back to me, we associate collectively day by day to ship the technique. This crew construction permits us to embed possession for sustainability inside the particular person companies. We really feel that embedding enterprise possession is necessary as a result of reaching our objectives might require totally different actions in every enterprise. For instance, one focus space of our technique is our product and content material pillar, which includes redesigning bodily merchandise and packaging for Hallmark and Crayola. But at Hallmark Media, this similar aim means measuring the carbon footprint of film manufacturing to determine the important thing emissions drivers. Every enterprise might have some custom-made methods of creating our methods come to life, however we at all times collaborate throughout the companies to share concepts and greatest practices.

Most Impactful Sustainability Efforts

Abhijit: What are essentially the most impactful sustainability efforts that you just’ve undertaken inside Hallmark?

Kristin: In 2022, we had our 2030 enterprise science-based goal accepted for greenhouse gasoline emissions discount. There are 4 key pillars of labor to ship this goal.

The primary pillar is merchandise and content material, which incorporates redesigning merchandise and packaging to make them extra sustainable and scale back their carbon footprint. We’re additionally working to extend the sustainability of film manufacturing at Hallmark Media.

The second pillar is renewable vitality. Our aim is to transition to renewable electrical energy throughout our world services. We’re additionally asking our key suppliers to implement renewable electrical energy and vitality effectivity tasks to do their half in lowering emissions throughout our provide chain.

The third pillar is sustainable forestry. We all know that forests are a vital sustainability consideration, and we’ve got had a dedication to accountable sourcing of paper and wooden for a few years. After we launched our up to date technique, we didn’t wish to lose give attention to this space, so we introduced this precedence into our new motion plan.

After which fourth is transportation. Our aim is to cut back emissions from transporting our merchandise, in addition to these from our staff commuting to the workplace and our enterprise journey.

We’ve been making nice progress towards our renewable vitality priorities. This has been a significant journey, for the reason that idea of renewable vitality goes again into our historical past. I just lately visited our first Crayola manufacturing unit, which started operation again in 1900 in Pennsylvania, the place Crayola nonetheless operates at the moment. Manufacturing operations at that first Crayola manufacturing unit have been powered by a waterwheel from the close by creek. Since Crayola has at all times had this hyperlink to the facility of nature when it got here to manufacturing, we proceed that keenness for renewable vitality at the moment. For instance, in 2010, Crayola constructed a photo voltaic farm to assist energy the manufacturing plant. Then in 2020, Crayola transitioned to 100% renewable electrical energy in all of the US-owned services.

Many leaders at Hallmark deliver the identical ardour for renewable vitality to the Hallmark model. The Hallmark model started its renewable electrical energy journey in 2021 inside our distribution services. We just lately started buying renewable electrical energy, comparable to photo voltaic and wind, for our Hallmark-owned services and places of work globally. We’ve additionally submitted plans to construct a photo voltaic farm at our greetings manufacturing plant in Kansas.

From an impression perspective, these renewable electrical energy tasks have performed quite a bit to cut back our scope 1 and scope 2 emissions. However furthermore, it has been a option to construct a tradition of sustainability inside our firm — to indicate our dedication to sustainability to our staff, prospects, suppliers, and guests.

Provide Chain Decarbonization

Abhijit: You talked about provide chain being an enormous a part of your decarbonization technique. I’m assuming that with Crayola, Hallmark, and even in film manufacturing, provide chain is an enormous a part of decarbonization efforts. How do you deal with numerous efforts inside the provide chain, and what has been essentially the most difficult and essentially the most impactful efforts you’ve taken thus far?

Kristin: As you talked about, our provide chain is a vital space of focus for us. Hallmark and Crayola have our personal manufacturing operations in the USA, by which we use renewable electrical energy. These operations fall inside our scope 1 and a couple of emissions, however we even have an exterior provide chain for uncooked supplies and a few completed merchandise, which is a part of our scope 3 emissions.

In October 2022, we launched a provider engagement program, the CARE program, to ask suppliers to hitch us on this journey by lowering their environmental impression. As a part of this program, we’re asking suppliers to measure their greenhouse gasoline footprints and set emission discount targets. We’re additionally encouraging suppliers to take actions comparable to implementing vitality effectivity tasks and transitioning to renewable electrical energy of their factories. The actions taken by our suppliers are necessary as a result of their factories are a part of our greenhouse gasoline footprint. We, in flip, are a part of our prospects’ footprints. That is why all of us should take collective motion.

As well as, a minimum of one in all our suppliers has taken the initiative to implement the identical sort of program with their very own suppliers. That is very precious, as a result of our provide chain emissions come from not simply our direct suppliers’ factories but additionally from our suppliers’ suppliers.

Abhijit: What are the largest challenges in working with these suppliers?

Kristin: A giant problem is offering schooling. After we began, many suppliers had not measured their greenhouse gasoline footprint and have been solely beginning to find out about renewable vitality. Yearly, we have to ask our suppliers to supply us with emission-related knowledge to trace our progress. The difficult half is reaching out to our suppliers to assemble knowledge yearly and, for them, having the information essential to supply that knowledge. We periodically maintain conferences with suppliers to coach them about our CARE program, why we’re implementing it, and the way we observe our progress on enhancing the sustainability of our provide chain with the information they supply. Yearly, we and our suppliers have gotten extra educated, however this can be a continuous studying course of for everybody.

Sustainability Laws

Abhijit: What regulatory facets are key for you at Hallmark? What reporting frameworks are you planning to report into, and contemplating that you’re a personal firm, how do you see rules such because the EU’s Company Sustainability Reporting Directive and the SEC’s proposal affecting your technique?

Kristin: As a non-public firm, some rules focused towards public firms and their traders don’t apply to us. However globally, some rules being applied do embrace giant personal firms. For instance, just lately, California and the European Union have each launched laws associated to emission reporting and local weather danger assessments that embrace giant personal firms of their scope. It is crucial that each one firms monitor the fast-moving world laws in any respect ranges (nation, state, native) to make sure that they’re compliant with rules that apply to their enterprise. It is very important have robust rigor round these processes and reporting.

As well as, there are rising legislative necessities for third-party verification audits of greenhouse gasoline footprints. In consequence, the rigor round sustainability reporting is getting elevated to turn into nearer to monetary reporting. These audits be certain that firms are compliant with the Greenhouse Gasoline Protocol and that their processes and knowledge are credible. With the elevated legislative give attention to performing local weather danger assessments, such because the TCFD [Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures], in companies, the partnership of sustainability with finance and danger administration is changing into extra necessary. This permits firms to research and decide their largest monetary dangers due to the altering local weather.

Typically, when laws begins to require sure actions comparable to audits or danger assessments, this will create a brand new trade customary. Due to this fact, even when laws doesn’t apply to all firms, it’s nonetheless advisable for firms to watch evolving greatest practices.

Integration Of Sustainability Into Merchandise

Abhijit: How do you combine sustainability into numerous Hallmark merchandise? How do you infuse sustainability-related metrics and experience into numerous product strains?

Kristin: Proper now, our major focus for product sustainability is on rising the recyclability of merchandise and packaging, utilizing extra sustainable supplies comparable to recycled content material, and lowering the amount of uncooked supplies used per product. All of those are key levers to cut back the environmental impression of our merchandise and packaging by lowering their carbon footprint and rising circularity.

We even have software program to do product lifecycle assessments. We use this software program to check the emissions of a product or packaging resolution earlier than and after the proposed redesign. Product sustainability to cut back greenhouse gasoline emissions is an space the place we’re studying and rising each day.

Abhijit: Thanks, Kristin, in your precious time and insights!

Kristin: Thanks!