Shaw Industries Group, Inc. (Shaw) has released its 12th annual sustainability report, highlighting its people-centric efforts and achievements amid a tumultuous year where communities everywhere faced the fear and uncertainty that came with COVID-19. 

“Our history of focusing on people and the planet was instrumental in our ability to navigate the challenges of 2020 -- including a global pandemic, social unrest and intense political tension,” said Kellie Ballew, Shaw’s vice president of global sustainability. “Our unwavering focus on people at the heart of it all - what we call sustain[HUMAN]ability - allowed us to make continued progress even during the most challenging times.” 

In addition to operational metrics that Shaw’s annual corporate sustainability report typically highlights, this year’s report includes an overview of Shaw’s COVID-19 response, calls out the market’s heightened focus on cleanability and material health, and emphasizes the importance of Shaw’s strategic focus on people and the planet.  Further, the report details Shaw’s commitment to: 

• design products focused on the health & wellbeing of the planet as well as its people

• be a positive force in the global effort to mitigate climate change

• fuel the circular economy with safe, sustainable, cradle-to-cradle inspired products

• create positive social change and a more just world for all.

“For many of us, 2020 was the most challenging year we have ever faced – personally and professionally – but through it all, Shaw upheld and advanced our 20-year commitment to sustainability delving deeper into how we can positively affect the wellbeing of people and the planet,” said Tim Baucom, Shaw President and CEO. “I’ve never been more proud to work for Shaw, and, as I enter my new role of CEO, I’m excited and energized to continue to work alongside my colleagues worldwide who put people at the heart of sustainability.”

Key achievements highlighted in the 2020  report include:

• Almost 90 percent of the products Shaw  manufactures are Cradle to Cradle Certified^®.

• The company assessed more than 1.8 billion pounds of material for material health in 2020.

• Shaw achieved its goal to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions 40 percent by 2030, nine years early. (Intensity metric based emissions per pound of finished product, compared to a 2010 baseline.)

• The company’s COVID-19 response focused on relieving the stress and concerns of associates by continually monitoring public health guidelines, providing products and services to take care of customers safely and effectively, and responding to the ever-changing needs of the communities in which it operates.

• The company provided more than 1 million training hours to its associates and customers in 2020 despite a global pandemic.

• Shaw and its associates contributed more than $6.9 million to nonprofit/philanthropic organizations in 2020, including setting a new record for fundraising for the St. Jude Memphis Marathon, which earned the company the “Top Corporate Team Fundraiser Award.”

To read Shaw’s 2020 Sustainability Report, visit: shawinc.com/2020sustainabilityreport.