• Sustainability initiatives expand to include Mark's

• Sustainability work recognized through multiple awards and inclusion in a prominent sustainability stock index

TORONTO, Nov. 10, 2011 /CNW/ - Canadian Tire Corporation, Limited's (CTC, CTC.a) ongoing integration of sustainable practices into its business operations resulted in the completion of 84 initiatives¹ during the third quarter. As a result, Canadian Tire is forecasted to annually avoid more than $1.1 million in costs, 596 tonnes of waste, and more than 1,200 tonnes² of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions - equivalent to the energy use and emissions from powering more than 138 Canadian homes each year.

Canadian Tire expanded the implementation of its sustainability initiatives to its Mark's business unit in the quarter through the retrofit of high-efficiency lighting in 13 stores. With these improvements, Mark's is forecasted to annually avoid more than $54,000 in costs and over 520 tonnes of GHG emissions.

"We have achieved tremendous business and environmental results on the Canadian Tire Retail side, and we're very pleased to expand our initiatives to include our other business units, starting with Mark's," said Tyler Elm, Vice President, Business Sustainability, Canadian Tire. "With more members of the Canadian Tire family working together to improve our business sustainability performance, we are confident that we will see even more significant results in the future."

Canadian Tire's work in business sustainability has garnered increased recognition from the investment community and a string of prestigious awards for the work of both individuals and departments:

• Canadian Tire was recently added to the STOXX Global ESG Leaders Index family. Of the 316 constituents, 15 are based in Canada and Canadian Tire is the only Canadian retailer included. The index represents the leading global companies in terms of environmental, social and governance criteria, based on ESG indicators provided by Sustainalytics, which has provided research for the Socially Responsible Investment and Responsible Investment markets for more than 20 years.
  
  
• In recognition for leading the transformation of Canadian Tire's approach to sustainability, Tyler Elm, Canadian Tire's Vice President of Business Sustainability, was selected by Delta Management Group as one of Canada's Clean50, a collection of 50 individuals or small teams who have had the greatest effect on Canada's long-term sustainability and contributed the most to clean capitalism in this country over the past few years.
  
  
• Subsequent to the end of the quarter, Elm was also named one of twenty winners of Green Living's Excellence in Corporate Responsibility Awards, placing first in the "Large Business, Senior Leader: Retail, Packaged Goods, and Consumer Brands." The program honours and celebrates corporate Canadians at small, medium and large corporations for outstanding work and dedication in creating sustainable and ethical practices within the business framework.
  
  
• Also in October, Canadian Tire won and placed in two CATIE awards - Best practices in Trade Compliance Processes and Greening of the Supply Chain, respectively. Given by the Canadian Association of Importers and Exporters, the awards celebrate excellence in Canada's trade community and recognize corporations that have taken a leadership role in Canadian Trade.
  
  
• In early November, Canadian Tire's Quebec Dealers were honoured for their work on Canadian Tire's Go Eco Program with the 3M Environmental Innovation Award from the Royal Canadian Geographical Society. The Award recognizes individuals involved in a local, regional or national project, program or initiative that has provided innovative solutions that protect, restore or preserve the environment.

Through Canadian Tire's business sustainability strategy, 365 initiatives¹ have been implemented year-to-date and are forecasted² to annually avoid³ approximately $4.5 million in costs, 2,300 tonnes of waste, and 5,300 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions⁴. Details of the progress made year-to-date are presented below³:

In addition, Canadian Tire operates two low carbon energy generation installations that include solar PV and geothermal technologies, with many more currently under construction or under contract for completion during the next year. Year-to-date, these projects have generated over 196 GJ⁵ of energy, generated over $875,000 in revenue, more than $4,000 in cost avoidance⁴, and helped to avoid⁴ nine tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions² in the local economy.

Year-to-date, Canadian Tire also contributed $12.3 million to community blue box and industry product stewardship and recycling programs.

For further details, refer to Making a Difference at http://corp.canadiantire.ca/EN/MAD/Pages/default.aspx http://CTSustainabilityinAction.ca

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1} Initiatives vary in complexity and size from changes made to an individual retail product, a retrofit made to a fleet vehicle or the building of a new store. Project completion for these initiatives is defined by a) the commercial operation date for buildings and product transport projects, b) the approval date for operations and product projects.  Projects are reported in the quarter they are completed, unless data is not available, in which case the completed project is reported in a future quarter provided it is in the same year of the project's complete date or the first quarter of the following year.

² Measured as carbon dioxide equivalents (C0₂-eq). Greenhouse gasses such as methane (CH₄) and nitrous oxide (N₂0) are converted to their carbon dioxide equivalent based on their relative global warming potential (GWP).

³ As sustainability initiatives are part of an inherently dynamic process and as projects come to fruition, revisions to estimates are periodically made and the Performance Report is adjusted in accordance with the company's Business Sustainability Performance Report Corporate Directive.

⁴ Avoidance refers to savings in comparison to what it would have been if Canadian Tire had not made the improvements. These values express a 12 month forecasted result from the date of each project's completion. Values beyond the first 12 months are not reported.

⁵ Low carbon energy generation is measured in gigajoules (GJ). Where energy sources that don't typically report in kWh, such as the energy transfer conversion from ground source heat pumps (geothermal), they can be converted to give an equivalent kilowatt hour value and then GJ.

ABOUT CANADIAN TIRE

Canadian Tire Corporation, Limited (TSX:CTC.a) (TSX:CTC) is one of Canada's most-shopped general retailers and the country's largest sporting goods retailer, with more than 1,700 retail and gasoline outlets from coast-to-coast. Our primary retail business categories - Automotive, Living, Fixing, Playing and Apparel - are supported and strengthened by our Financial Services division, which offers such products and services as credit cards, retail deposits, in-store financing, product warranties, and insurance. Nearly 68,000 people are employed across the Canadian Tire enterprise, which was founded in 1922 and remains one of Canada's most recognized and trusted brands.