Carbonzero

November 13th 2009

R.J. McCarthy announces multi-year commitment to comprehensive greenhouse gas management strategy.

Toronto, ON (November 13, 2009) - R.J. McCarthy (“RJM”) has implemented a full, multi-year greenhouse gas management strategy that will measure, reduce and neutralize greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from its business. This is in direct response to part two of McCarthy’s Social Responsibility Framework, Greening Our Operations.

The school uniform supplier has partnered with Canadian company Carbonzero to undertake a measured, phased approach to ensure that its full GHG inventory is properly and accurately accounted for and neutralized. The multi-year, complete approach used by Carbonzero ensures a true inventory of heating and cooling energy emissions, electricity consumption, and vehicle fleet energy consumption and emissions.

John Kelleher, President and CEO explains, “A full understanding of greenhouse gas emissions is paramount to proper emissions management and planning. With the help of Carbonzero and their detailed methodology, we will be able to measure our exact carbon emissions, rather than simply using a square-footage based estimate of our emissions as some organizations do. We will be at the forefront of our industry by using this detailed and auditable approach. As a company, we strive to be nothing less than the clear industry leader in GHG management.”

RJM chose Carbonzero because of its industry leading, rigorous, auditable methodology for calculating carbon footprints. Carbonzero is a leader in providing full service carbon management solutions for its clients including fully verifiable ISO-14064-1 compliant carbon footprint assessments and was recently ranked the highest provider of made-in-Canada offsets by the David Suzuki Foundation and the Pembina Institute. Carbonzero has worked with other premium Canadian brands like Liberal Party of Canada, Canadian Union of Public Employees, and Vitamin Water (Coca-Cola Canada).

“We have been very impressed with the total organizational commitment McCarthy’s has shown to its new green strategy and towards achieving carbon-neutrality. This is a commitment directly from McCarthy’s new CEO, John Kelleher, and from his entire senior management team. McCarthy’s sought out Carbonzero because they wanted to use a highly rigorous and auditable methodology for managing and reducing their carbon emissions. Carbonzero is pleased to be working so closely with a company that is taking such a comprehensive approach to managing and minimizing it’s environmental impact,” said Howie Chong, President of Carbonzero.

As of today, RJ McCarthy has achieved carbon neutrality for all of its owned operations (referred to as Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions). For these emissions, RJ McCarthy has conducted a comprehensive internal project to reduce the emissions that could be reduced, and where it has not reduced they have purchased offsetting donations (referred to as “offsets”) toward renewable energy projects to reduce their carbon-footprint to zero.

During this project, RJM has also carefully evaluated selected additional indirect emissions that are created as a consequence of the activities of the institution, but occur from sources not owned or controlled by the institution (referred to as selected Scope 3 emissions, including at this time employee commuting, corporate personnel travel, and shipping within Canada). RJM is planning to reduce or offset these emissions in the near
future.

Over time, RJ McCarthy plans to go even further and look to reduce and minimize greenhouse gas emissions from other companies in its supply chain (manufacturing facilities and transportation providers not owned by RJM). This will move RJ McCarthy toward a truly industry leading position of measuring and trying to improve the “full life cycle emissions” of its supply chain. Over time, RJM will seek out supply chain partners who care about their green house footprints and who will agree to implement, working with RJM, multi-year strategies for reduction. RJM wants to find partners in its supply chain that desire to reduce and/or offset their own footprints, over time.

“This is a tremendous step forward for our organization,” said Joanna Halligan, Head of Corporate Social Responsibility. “This management plan will greatly reduce our GHG emissions by first understanding where we need to make operational changes, and then by neutralizing our emissions through carbon offsetting. This is a long-term, multi-year commitment, and I’m confident that we will stay the course and drive substantial and real change. It is a huge milestone for our businesses’ operations to be carbon neutral today.”

For more information please contact John Kelleher at jkelleher@rjmccarthy.com or Joanna Halligan at jhalligan@rjmccarthy.com.

About McCarthy’s. Established in 1956 by Robert J. McCarthy, McCarthy’s is Canada’s leading retailer of School uniforms. McCarthy’s has a network of 15 stores across Canada, a large base of loyal customers, and serves the uniform needs of thousands of students and families across the country. Over its proud 53-year history, McCarthy’s has earned a reputation for offering its school partners and customers the widest selection of high quality school uniforms along with the most convenient shopping options. McCarthy’s is committed to ensuring that – in addition to unsurpassed quality – corporate social responsibility and
sustainability become the new foundation of its exciting new mission and strategy. For more information please see www.rjmccarthy.com.

About Carbonzero. Founded in 2006, Carbonzero has rapidly risen to become a leader in emerging carbon economy. Working in concert with partner organizations, Carbonzero helps transform organizations for the green economy by aiding them in assessing, reporting, reducing and offsetting their carbon emissions. A top performer in the recent David Suzuki Foundation and Pembina Institute report on Carbon Offsetting, Carbonzero has led the way in setting the leading industry standards for measurable, verified emissions reduction offsets. For more information please see www.carbonzero.ca