Boston, May 13th, 2026 – Wolverine Worldwide, owner of footwear brands Merrell and Saucony, recently started disclosing its carbon emissions. Now, investors are calling on the company to take a bigger step. Shareholders voted last Thursday on a Green Century Capital Management (Green Century) proposal calling for Wolverine to adopt goals for reducing its air pollution. The proposal received 10.6% of votes cast.
“Disclosing emissions is a starting but not end point,” said Leslie Samuelrich, president of Green Century. “ Without a reduction target, there’s no guarantee that Wolverine’s board or management will reduce emissions or the climate risk they face.”
This is the second consecutive year that Green Century has urged the footwear and apparel giant to create targets to mitigate the risks its recently reported emissions pose to the planet and company profits.
The importance of taking action is rising with global warming. Climate change increased average temperatures across every U.S. county in 2025, and footwear and apparel companies are feeling the heat. The Apparel Impact Institute projects that the fashion industry is racing toward a 34% drop in profits by 2030 unless companies cut emissions.
Fashioning industry progress
As fashion trends speed up, the industry’s climate footprint grows just as rapidly. Industry-wide emissions grew 7.5% in 2023, the first year-over-year increase since tracking began in 2019. By 2030, the sector’s climate emissions are projected to rise another 55%. This projection is partly due to fast-fashion companies massively scaling their global production of clothes — and their byproduct, global-warming carbon.
In response, more than 85% of leading fashion and apparel brands have announced public goals to reduce emissions, often during the production and processing of products responsible for the majority of total emissions. Wolverine’s direct competitors Brooks, Crocs, Puma, and Deckers (the parent company of Hoka) are just a few of the brands with concrete written goals and plans to reduce their climate impact.
Wolverine fails to lead the pack
Despite Wolverine’s marketing highlighting its sustainability mission of “sharing the simple power of being outside,” it has yet to set a target to guide and measure its progress on preventing climate pollution. By failing to protect the nature its customers value, the company risks its reputation and appeal to the 80% of Americans who expect climate action from both the government and companies.
Meanwhile, companies with climate targets are demonstrating progress and may see potential profits. Puma has reduced its supply chain emissions 22% since 2017, putting it on track to meet its 2030 target. Crocs has decreased the emissions from producing its popular Classic Clog 10% since 2021. Cutting product emissions by securing sustainable raw materials now helps companies tap into an associated 6% average increase in profit over five years.
“Wolverine would serve its customers and investors well by trekking toward climate targets,” said Green Century Shareholder Advocate Giovanna Eichner. “A publicly accountable goal would prove it’s serious about pursuing the cost savings and emissions cuts its peers are already on the way to achieving.”
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