Corporate Social Responsibility

Our Program

Our Commitment to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Environmental, Social, Governance (ESG)

CSR is fundamental across our organization – not only because it’s the right thing to do and aligns with our values, but because it makes solid business sense. Burlington recognizes that our long-term success is supported by our commitment to act in sustainable ways. Our CSR programs ensure we address impacts inside and outside our walls, allowing us to grow in harmony within the communities where we operate. We are making meaningful strides in this area, with the knowledge that this process is more of a marathon than a sprint. We know we must continuously improve, adjusting to the changing needs of our industry and world as we continue to grow. Please download our most recent CSR Report (to the right) to learn more.

Download our most recent CSR Report

CSR Approach

In a fast-moving retail sector, our approach seeks to address evolving CSR and ESG disclosure trends and deliver broader value to our Associates, customers, and the communities where we live, work, and operate. In turn, we strive to mitigate risk to Burlington, attract diverse new talent, and realize efficiency savings that are fundamental to the off-price model.

Our approach spans five strategic pillars, which form the foundation of this report:

Strategic CSR/ESG Priorities and Stakeholder Engagement

We prioritize the ESG topics of greatest concern to our stakeholders. These are identified through a series of questionnaires and meetings with individuals throughout our value chain, including: internal executive leadership, Associates, customers, investors, suppliers, and the Board. We completed this process in early 2022 (see page 7 of our 2021 CSR Report) , which resulted in 21 ESG Focus topics (nine identified as strategic priorities – highlighted in the table below). The table shows how these 21 ESG Focus topics could impact our value chain, as well as how our six mapped SDGs contribute to these topics. To further align these ESG topics, we have also arranged them within our five pillars. We feel that this alignment will better help us to identify risks and opportunities, allowing us to enhance our strategies. We remain committed to formally reviewing ESG topics of relevance to our business every two to three years.

ESG/CSR Governance

Oversight of our ESG matters lies with our full Board of Directors. Our ESG/CSR Executive Steering Committee is responsible for steering our ESG strategy, as well as ESG policy and disclosure. This group includes our Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Group President and Chief Merchandising Officer (CMO), President and Chief Operating Officer (COO), Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer (CFO), Executive Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer (CAO), and Group Senior Vice President (SVP) IR and Treasurer.

The Chairperson of our CSR Report Committee is our Group SVP IR and Treasurer. This Committee includes members representing key departments that oversee the CSR reporting process (Sustainability, DEI, IR, Legal, Human Resources, Finance, Marketing, and Internal Audit). Responsibility for setting ESG strategies and executing on our ESG initiatives lies within each operating group, including but not limited to, Sustainability, Supply Chain, Stores and Real Estate, Human Resources, Legal and Finance departments, among others.

Day-to-day oversight of CSR Reporting on our ESG activities falls under the guidance of the core members of the CSR Report Committee: our VP of Sustainability (Environment), SVP Leadership & Organizational Development, DEI, and Community Impact (Social), our VP Assistant General Counsel (Governance), and spearheaded by the Director of ESG, Climate, and CSR. This includes reporting of ESG performance, progress on achieving goals, and engaging with industry groups, as well as identifying, evaluating, and addressing potential risks that may exist at enterprise, strategic, reputational, financial, operational, compliance, and reporting levels. The image to the right illustrates how Burlington ESG and CSR information is disseminated to keep all internal stakeholders engaged, from our subject matter experts up to our Board of Directors.